The Sparrowkeet Series
by audreyii-fic
Summary: Ba Sing Se has fallen and Katara has been captured by the Fire Nation; a more adult take on the potential progression of S3. AU series of interconnected one-shots. Zutara. Rated for lemons and general darkness.
1. Sparrowkeet

_**A/N**: This is my first time writing for source material directed at the pre-teen set, so let me start by saying **this is not a story for children.** I know none of you young 'uns will listen, but I'll ask anyway: Adults only, please. I don't want an express ticket to the Special Hell._

_This is not my first time writing in this format. It's actually one of my favorite narrative structures (and is ideal for roadtrip tales, of which I've written a dozen or so in my life; I'm a creature with simple tastes, what can I say). So my apologies to fandom crossover readers who are looking for something totally unique. Though the plot is different, the style will feel familiar._

_Speaking of crossover readers: for those who have been waiting on my other projects, please direct your ire to** Like A Dove**. For those like the story, please also direct your appreciation to **Like A Dove**. This distraction is entirely her fault and she admits it. Thanks to her and **cretin_me** for soothing my ego as I went._

_Anyway, enough chatter. We begin at the end of the season two finale, **The Crossroads of Destiny**._

* * *

><p><em><em><em><strong>Sparrowkeet<strong>___

* * *

><p><em><em>seems I'm damned to live a lie  unaware of what's outside  
>Chiasm, "Isolated"<em>_

* * *

><p><em>The world glows white.<em>

_The Avatar rises._

_The world __splinters blue._

_The Avatar falls._

* * *

><p>Katara acts on instinct as she calls the water of the canals to her hands and wipes out the Dai Li in a single gushing wave. She rides the bend forward and catches Aang before he hits the stone floor.<p>

The moment he falls into her arms she knows there is no life inside him.

She dully registers that fireballs are rushing toward her. For a moment she is sure that this is the end, that her flesh will fall from her bones under the joint strikes of the Fire Prince and Princess. Her arms are full of Airbender and she cannot block the attack. But then two blasts appear from nowhere and throw her assailants off their feet, and Iroh - _Iroh!_- is there.

"You've got to get out of here!" the former general shouts as flames shoot from his fists. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

She has to escape.

Except there is no life inside Aang.

If she runs it could be too late. She's already exhausted from the fight; by the time they are free she may not have the energy left to heal him, to save the only hope any of them have left.

She turns Aang over. She breaks the vial from the Spirit Oasis. She pours the water across the open wound in his back.

"Go! _Now!_"

She lays her hands on the Avatar and puts every ounce of her strength into the most important thing she's ever done.

The fire throws her backward, and when she hits the wall she passes out.

* * *

><p>She's still on the cold stone floor when she hears voices. The smell of cooked meat is thick in the air, and for a fuzzy few seconds she thinks she's back at home waiting for Gran-Gran to finish roasting the seal steaks for dinner.<p>

"You didn't have to do that."

"He allowed Uncle and the Avatar to _escape_. This isn't the time for one of your fits of compassion. This is the time to make an example."

"Burning a man alive isn't-"

"Zuko, we have taken the Earth Kingdom. We have done it in the name of our father. You have restored your rightful place in our family. We will be welcomed home as war heroes. _M__ust_ we argue over methods of troop discipline at this _exact_ moment in time?"

"...I guess not."

"Good. You can be _such _a wet blanket sometimes. Speaking of wet, is that peasant still alive?"

"I doubt it." The words turn bitter. "_You_ struck her down."

"True. Still."

Katara keeps her eyes closed and listens to the approaching footfalls. She wonders if this is what Toph feels.

A foot wedges under her ribs and rolls her onto her back, and she cannot hold back a groan of pain. _Everything _hurts, especially her head.

"Oh, how annoying." There's a sudden, intense heat above her. Katara tries to flinch back, but her body doesn't obey. "Perhaps we should strip that robe off first. I detest the smell of burning fur."

"You're going to kill her?"

"No, I'm going to invite her to dinner. _Yes_, I'm going to kill her."

"Why?"

A snort. "_Because_, Zuko, she's a _Waterbender _who has supported our enemies and opposed our respective missions." The heat above flares hotter. "Also she cut my hair."

The next words come from directly overhead, instead of at a distance. "Keep her as a war prisoner," the other voice hisses. "I've been watching these people for months, Azula. Trust me, the Avatar will come for her."

"I didn't miss. The Avatar's some newborn at the North Pole by now."

"We can't be sure of that. You'd be amazed at how lucky he can be."

"I really _don't_ have time for-"

"I'll take responsibility. She's... valuable, Azula."

A long pause, and then a colder laugh than should come from a creature made of fire. "If you want a pet, Zuzu, we could get a sparrowkeet. It'll eat less and smell better."

Silence.

"...oh, _fine_. I can't believe I forgot how _sentimental_ you can be, brother." The next words echo through the cave. "Take the Fire Prince's new pet to my ship. If she fights or bends, don't hesitate to knock her out again. And don't be gentle about it."

The stone vibrates with the heaviness of approaching Earthbenders.

"Well? Aren't you going to thank me?"

A sullen, "Thank you."

"I hope your manners improve by the time we get home. Father doesn't care for rudeness. But I suppose you remember that, don't you?"

When several rough hands lift her from the floor Katara finally opens her eyes. She can't focus, but she can still make out the scarred face watching her impassively.

She is a Waterbender, and when she spits at his cheek, she doesn't miss.

* * *

><p>It takes Katara two days before she's able to sit up without dizziness. It's another two before she can bend again.<p>

Not that bending does her any good. At first she is confused about why they dare to shove small skins of tea through the slot in the door along with her rice - until she tries to freeze the lock. It makes no difference at all, and most of the ice falls through the keyhole. The guard in the hallway laughs at her.

After that she drinks her tea instead of wasting it. A dried out Waterbender is a useless Waterbender.

* * *

><p>Every evening she is taken to the bathroom by a member of the Dai Li, her hands cuffed behind her back with solid rock. There's no way to escape in there either, at least not that she can find in the sixty seconds she's allowed for each visit.<p>

On one walk back to her cell she tries to simply run. She gets twenty feet. For the next three days they give her nothing to drink and she lays on her cot, too dehydrated to cry.

* * *

><p>She wonders if Aang is alive. She thinks he must be. She thinks she would somehow know if he wasn't.<p>

She wonders if he'll come for her. He'd want to. Toph too. Sokka, though - Sokka can stop them. He will remind them of their mission: Prepare the Avatar for the day of Black Sun. Sokka is strong and capable of sacrificing his sister in the name of the greater good, even though it will kill him inside. If Iroh is still with them he will agree, and between the two of them they'll force Aang to keep his focus. Hopefully.

Katara doesn't want to die here, but more importantly she doesn't want _Aang_ to die here. Everything hinges on Aang. He is the Avatar. Katara is expendable.

* * *

><p>At night Katara comes to the conclusion that she is mentally defective. At least when it comes to boys.<p>

She had _believed_ him. All he'd had to do was say _That's something we have in common_ and she'd caved. For months he'd chased them across the world with a blinding _evil_ fixation, and in one little moment of apparent humanity she'd offered to waste her spirit water on his stupid face. Five minutes later he'd been whipping fire at her. He _tricked _her.

Not that he was the first. All Jet had had to do was mention his tragic past and then there she was, in his tree hut, worshipfully doing things that would make Gran-Gran shake her head with disappointment. And he'd just wanted to use her waterbending to kill innocent people.

Even Haru had gotten under her skin with all his talk about lost parents. Haru turned out to be honest, but she'd had no proof of that at the time. Twenty minutes of conversation and she'd been willing to get herself arrested for him.

She spends the long hours obsessing over an idiot she's been. Her compassion has been used against her time and time again. And the cave beneath Ba Sing Se was by far her most costly mistake.

She swears that _this _time she has learned.

* * *

><p>After two weeks Katara notices a strange vibration in the metal floor. Shortly thereafter she feels a soft, gentle rocking. The ship has finally left port.<p>

The water swaying her cell treats her to her best sleep since leaving the South Pole.

* * *

><p>"Up, Waterbender."<p>

Katara squints at the outline of the Dai Li in the doorway. Constant darkness has not done good things for her eyesight. "Why?" It's not time for her trip to the bathroom.

"The Prince wishes to see you. Make yourself presentable and follow me."

"_Presentable_," she grumbles under her breath. "Let me take a bath and wash my clothes, then."

A sneer crosses the guard's face. "That much water? How stupid do you think I am?"

Katara just looks at him.

The guard binds her hands with rock cuffs, then takes her up three flights of stairs and down a long corridor - toward the center of the ship, she thinks. They come to a stop in front of a huge set of double doors, and when the guard knocks the sound of metal echoes.

If Katara gets out of this alive she _never_ wants to see metal again.

"Enter," a rasping voice calls.

The guard turns the handles, and for a moment Katara can't decide whether it would be more defiant to walk in with her head held high or to plant her feet and make him drag her forward. She decides to walk. She is the daughter of the chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe, and their last bender to boot; if blood is so important to these people then she's entitled to just as much respect as the spoiled two-faced brat of the Fire Lord.

The empty room is large - twenty feet high, forty feet long, thirty feet wide - and it occurs to Katara that this ship must really be _enormous_. She'd been unconscious when brought in and hadn't gotten a look.

Prince Zuko is there and pacing. His hair is pulled back into a formal topknot and he's wearing red silk robes with the formal insignia of the Fire Nation. _She's_ wearing a Water Tribe tunic that has nearly disintegrated with filth. She is a prisoner. _He_ is _royalty_.

Aang would probably disapprove of how much hatred she feels right now.

Zuko looks up as they enter, and his strange yellow eyes widen at the sight of her - the right far more than the left, of course. Then, to Katara's complete shock, he wheels on the guard. "Why does she look like this?"

The guard appears even more surprised than Katara feels. "I beg your pardon, Prince Zuko?"

"Why does she look like this?" Tiny flames lick at the Firebender's fingertips. "Where has she been kept?"

"In- in the prison hold."

The flames creep up Zuko's knuckles. "_What?_"

Katara notes with some interest that the guard is clearly terrified. "Prince Zuko, I assure you, we received no orders to give the girl special consideration. She has been treated as a standard prisoner-"

"_I'll_ decide how she'll be treated!"

The girl in question is lost.

Zuko looks away and takes a few heaving breaths. The fire disappears from his hands. "Unbind her and get out," he says. His tone reminds Katara more of the Prince at the North Pole and less of the boy in the cave. "Have a proper room prepared with appropriate safety measures. She's of no use to me in this condition."

Katara's blood goes cold as the guard's face lights with understanding. "Of course, Prince Zuko. Right away." The cuffs disappear from her wrists, the rock welding itself around the Dai Li's forearm.

Then he leaves, and it is just her and her enemy.

Katara can't let him have the first word. "Thanks," she says sarcastically, "but I'd rather stay in my cell. I don't care about being _of use_ to you."

Zuko frowns - and a tiny blush appears on his right cheek. "That isn't what I meant."

"Right."

"It _isn't_. I wouldn't-"

"Why not?" Getting flame-broiled is starting to sound like a more appealing fate every minute. "What's stopping you? It's not like you have any honor to worry about."

Her words have their intended effect: Zuko flinches as though he's been slapped. But he recovers quickly. "You could be a _little_ nicer," he snarls. "You'd be dead under Ba Sing Se if it wasn't for me."

Katara gapes. "Are you _kidding?_ _You're_ the reason I was injured in the first place!"

"You were protecting the Avatar! I had no choice!"

"Of course you do! Everyone has a choice!"

"_I_ don't!"

"Right, because of your precious _destiny_-"

"That's right!"

"So is it _my_ destiny to rot here until someone uses me for fish food?"

"Forget it! If that's what you want, next time I'll let Azula finish the job!"

"I hope you _do!_"

Zuko makes a wordless noise of frustration and smacks his palm against his forehead, but Katara barely notices. Spots are appearing in her vision. Yelling takes effort and this is the most she's exerted herself in two weeks.

She sits down hard on the floor.

"Katara?"

"Leave me alone," she mutters as she wills the room to stop spinning. "Unless you'd like to get me a really _big _glass of water."

Obviously, he doesn't.

In a few minutes she's steady enough to look up at the Prince instead of just focusing on his boots. His expression is unreadable. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. "You weren't supposed to be down in the cells."

She snorts in a way she learned from Toph. "I'm sure feather pillows will make being held prisoner _much_ more fun."

"It might. So will real food."

She silently resolves not to eat a bite.

"Look, I thought you'd be in better shape right now. I have a proposition for you, but it can wait until you can... um... stand."

"I can stand," Katara snaps. "I'm just... choosing not to, is all."

She knows she sounds petulant. She really doesn't care.

The red boots shift, and then Zuko is sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of her. It's another moment where she can't decide what is more defiant: to refuse to meet his eyes, or to stare at him full-on. She decides to stick with insolently studying the gold embroidery of his collar.

"You're a good bender," he says with the reluctant air of someone who's never been asked to give compliments. "Really good. A lot better than you used to be."

Katara squelches the little spark of pride in her chest. It's true. She was Master Pakku's best student, and since the North Pole her skills have only grown.

"And the Avatar has improved, which means you must be a good teacher too."

She is.

"So I want to fight you."

Katara _does _meet amber eyes at that. "Fight me?" In spite of herself, she starts to scramble backward. "That's not fair, that's cheating, there's no water in here-"

"Spar," he adds quickly. "Just spar. And not now. Once you're stronger." Zuko gestures around the empty room. "That's what this space is for: nighttime firebending practice, so no one sends up flares announcing the ship's location. You and I would use it during the day."

Katara stares at Zuko as though he's grown a second head. Maybe even a third. "Why? Why not practice with Azula?"

"I've fought her a thousand times. She doesn't have anything to show me. And Uncle-" Zuko falters briefly and looks away. "Uncle was able to invent firebending moves no one had ever seen before. He learned them by studying the Waterbenders."

She finds herself mouthing wordlessly for a few moments. She'd picked up a lot about Zuko in the past months - his obsession, his selfishness, his arrogance - but _insane_ was an adjective she'd reserved for his sister. Apparently he hasn't escaped the family curse after all. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to help _you_ learn better moves."

The temperature rises several degrees. "Not _better_," he snaps hotly, clearly insulted. "Just new."

"New, huh? So you can use them against me? So you can use them against _Aang?_"

Zuko jumps to his feet. "So I can use them against _anyone!_"

Katara's eyes narrow. _So I can use them against Azula_ is what he doesn't say in that moment, but she hears it anyway.

That makes things a little different.

The Fire Prince paces again in short lengths. "It's not like there's no advantages for you," he says. "You'd get practice, too. Maybe you'll beat me." His tone makes it clear how unlikely he finds that.

Oh, she wants to beat him. "Even if I did," she reminds him, "it's not like I can get away. I can't just fly out of here." She knew the minute the ship put to sea that she was well and truly trapped, so there's no point in launching some grand escape plan. Unlike some people, _she_ thinks things through.

"We won't be at sea forever. We're going around the Earth Kingdom instead of through it. That's a long trip - two months, maybe. Once we're home, who knows what you could do. Maybe you'll be powerful enough to fight your way free."

Katara crosses her arms. "But what about Aang? Aren't I supposed to be _bait?_"

When Zuko doesn't answer, the pieces fall into place. Yes, she's bait, but that's not what Zuko had meant when he told Azula she was valuable.

She realizes the only reason he saved her is to study her.

"All right," Katara says.

Zuko's angry pacing stops abruptly. "Really?"

"Really."

"Oh. Um... good." Her sudden, flat acceptance has clearly thrown him off. "I'd thought we would get started immediately, but I guess we should probably wait a few days. Until you're stronger."

"Right," she says. "Stronger."

The Waterbender can study the Firebender, too.

* * *

><p>The new room <em>is<em> more comfortable. There's still a guard outside her door at all times, but now she has a real bed, a small table to eat at, a shelf with a half-dozen scrolls, and a new set of clothes. The latter are Fire Nation color and cut, exposing far more skin than Katara would prefer. She wears them anyway because they are clean, and tries to adjust to the air against her stomach and shoulders.

She even a tiny bathroom of her own. Katara spends hours with her hand on the tap, feeling out how the water runs through the plumbing of the ship. If she tries she could turn it to ice. The pipes - _all _of the pipes - would shatter. The ship would sink. She'd die, of course, but so would the only children of the Fire Lord.

But it would also mean drowning the crew. They are people with friends and family and Katara knows they're at war but it would still feel like murder.

She keeps the pipes clear in her memory anyway, just in case.

* * *

><p>Her intended hunger strike doesn't last more than thirty seconds after the guard delivers a tray of dishes that make her mouth water. But the new food burns her tongue and blazes down her throat; she chokes so hard on the komodo chicken that she gulps down all of her tea in two swallows. Her nose stings every time she exhales and the only other part of the meal she'll touch is the rice.<p>

Sokka would have eaten it. Sokka would have complained, but he would have eaten it. _Meat is meat. Except when it's not meat. But if it tastes like meat, I guess that's good enough. Unless it doesn't taste like meat. Then you should get real meat. Mmm. Meat._

Katara wonders who is taking care of him. Who is taking care of _all_ of them.

She thinks the guard must have heard her coughing, because dinner is plain fruit salad.

* * *

><p>After four days Katara is fed and rested enough to be brought back to the training room. The Dai Li guard keeps her wrists bound in stone as they travel through the hallways. She's in better accommodations and clean clothes but she's still a prisoner, not a guest.<p>

The double doors lock behind her, and the first thing she notices - and how can she not notice it in an empty space - is the enormous wooden barrel. She can hear the sloshing inside as the ship rocks.

Without thinking she _pulls _so hard that the barrel explodes outward, raining the room with splinters, and then she is encased in a cool, salty cloak of liquid. It takes no concentration to cover herself from the top of her head to the soles of her feet, and she absorbs the moisture through her skin like a frog.

_Water._

Through her cloak she can make out muffled speech. Katara opens her eyes to slits and watches the blurry orange form of Prince Zuko standing a few feet away, waving his hand in front of her face, trying to communicate.

She knocks him off his feet with an icy fist.

An instant later she's throwing up a shield to block a fireball and then they are locked in battle, waves striking flames over and over and over and over.

In less than half an hour Katara is panting and shaking with fatigue, while Zuko is still deflecting her blows with annoying ease. That's all he's been doing, really: deflecting, deflecting and watching her technique. She knows she shouldn't make herself such an easy study but she's too angry to hold back now that she's got her element at her fingertips.

He _tricked_ her, so she will fight until she literally can't.

That moment comes a few minutes later, when Katara is too slow to dodge the razor-thin flame that whips toward her. The crack echoes through the room and the searing lash slices into her cheek.

Katara staggers back, hissing. It hurts - a _lot _- and when she instinctively claps a palm against her face it hurts worse.

The light dims as the fire dies, and Zuko stands on the other side of the room, staring at her in horror.

Katara waves her free hand and shoots a few half-hearted ice spikes in his direction, but she drops them out of the air when he doesn't move to block. The fight is clearly over and it would be... _cheating_ to just impale him like that when he's not even trying. She doesn't have to cheat to make him sorry. And she will, soon; even if she's lost this battle she _will_ win the war.

When she moves her palm some of the skin pulls away; her eyes fill with pained tears as she probes at her cheek and assesses the damage.

"Stop, don't, that'll make it worse. I'll have the guard bring some lotus oil-"

"Don't bother." She kneels in the puddle at her feet; her red skirts cling wetly to her legs. Her reflection shows a long crimson welt running from her chin to her temple.

Katara places her hands flat in the water, closes her eyes, and exhales slowly. Cool energy - life and growth - pulses through her blood, and when she raises her fingertips to her face the pain vanishes almost instantly.

She's getting better at this.

After another quick stroke to make sure she's gotten all of it, she glances at Zuko. His sparring robes are soaked too. His fingers are on his own cheek and he's looking at her with a strange mix of jealousy and shame.

"I would have healed you," she says spitefully.

"I know," he replies.

The guard takes her back to her room; she sleeps solidly for several hours, then lies awake through the night.

* * *

><p>They spar every day.<p>

For the next few sessions he does _nothing_ but block, and not very well. Like he's doing some kind of penance. As though he's _surprised_ burns are a consequence of lobbing fireballs at people when he, of all people, should know better.

But Katara realizes she's misjudged the situation when she suddenly finds herself dodging a series of flaming rings that careen through the air at amazing speeds. The rings look, move, and feel suspiciously like her ice discs.

She curses at Zuko with language that would make her father's warriors blush. She curses louder when he smirks at her.

* * *

><p>She focuses on his footwork. The way his waist twists and his shoulders rotate. How his bending is sharp and forceful in places where her bending would be smooth and fluid.<p>

Her water whips begin to move more like fire whips. They become thinner and faster, and one afternoon she jerks her wrist and forms an ice blade on the end just before it strikes his arm. If he notices the blood dripping from his elbow, he doesn't show it.

* * *

><p>Her stamina catches up to his quickly. Before long the matches have extended from twenty minutes to nearly two hours, with high sparks and low ebbs, of course. The explosions from their bending must be felt around the ship, because whenever the guards come to collect her they look like they never quite believe she and the Crown Prince are still alive.<p>

Every evening she stands by the sink and repairs her bruises and aches from the day's training. By the next morning she is always ready to fight again.

She doesn't know how her partner is managing, but he can't keep it up forever.

* * *

><p>"We need... better vents... in here," Zuko wheezes, spread-eagled on his back.<p>

Katara nods against the iron floor.

They have discovered that hitting jets of fire with jets of water over a long period of time only results in a lot of evaporation. Katara gave up first because the effort of constantly reforming the steam sapped her strength, but it was close because Zuko had had to work twice as hard to maintain flames in the sticky air.

Given that they are both half-conscious on the ground, Katara figures it counts as a draw.

The humidity is wretched, even worse than the Foggy Swamp. Katara closes her eyes and blows out slowly; the condensation nearby freezes into tiny ice crystals and the space around her body cools thirty degrees.

For a moment she watches Zuko continue to gasp like a dying koi. Then - because she always felt sorry for the twitching, struggling nets the men would haul from the sea - she makes a weary gesture in his direction.

Snowflakes melt against the Firebender's face, and his breathing becomes steadier. "Thank you," he says hoarsely.

Katara grunts in acknowledgement and rolls onto her side.

* * *

><p>The next day Zuko asks her to have tea with him.<p>

Katara refuses.

As she's led back to her room she hears a thud that sounds a lot like a water barrel hitting a metal wall.

* * *

><p>Every night before she goes to sleep she plays a game called <em>What Would They Say?<em>

It goes like this: Katara thinks of something that has just happened, something she would have shared over the campfire. _Today a wave rocked the ship and my tart pie fell off the table._

What would Sokka say? _Did you catch it? No! Oh, lovely tart pie, we hardly knew ye..._

What would Aang say? _It's okay, Katara, we'll get you another one. A hundred years ago there was this bakery on Whale Tail Island that made nothing **but** tart pies, we should go there!_

What would Toph say? _That's what happens when you're not on good solid earth, Sugar Queen. Eat faster instead of like a little priss next time._

Appa and Momo wouldn't say anything, of course. They'd be too busy licking her to see if there were any bits of crust left. Then everyone would laugh, they'd fall asleep, and the next morning they'd be flying off to their next adventure.

Katara hasn't seen the sky since she fell into the catacombs.

* * *

><p>One morning - she's losing track, but she thinks they've been at sea for about four weeks - just as their sparring session is beginning to really warm up, the doors open without a knock.<p>

"Hello, Sparrowkeet."

Katara's water dome drops to the floor with a splash, and Zuko's fire bomb vanishes mid-air.

Azula's regal, relaxed face shows no sign of concern as she she walks in. "Don't stop on my account," she says, completely ignoring her brother's furious expression. "But your appropriate deference is noted."

Katara stays in her fighting stance.

The Fire Prince doesn't frighten her. The Fire Princess does.

Azula raises an eyebrow at Katara and holds up her hands in a mocking gesture of peace. "There's no need for that. You're spending too much time with my brother. He's got a flare for melodrama, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"It runs in the family," Zuko mutters. "What do want, Azula?"

"Want? Oh, I don't _want_ anything." Azula might be the younger sibling but she looks every inch the heir apparent, from the tips of her blood-red shoes to the golden flame in her hair. "I'm only curious about what's been taking up so much of your valuable time, Zuzu."

Katara glances at _Zuzu_, who is flushing. "I'm training, Azula," he says. "Some of us like a challenge."

"_I'm_ challenging. So is Ty Lee. So is Mai. Really, we're all feeling rather neglected."

"You're not Waterbenders."

Azula smirks. "You're right. We're not."

Katara prefers it when Azula's voice is hard; this cold sweetness is much, much worse. She doesn't dare relax her stance, and she has a grip on every single drop of moisture in the room, from the sea water on the floor to the sweat on Zuko's forehead. She could call it to her in less than a second - which might still be too short a time to block an attack.

The Princess walks around Katara in a slow circle; Katara stays at the ready. "Where did you find the clothes?" Azula asks, glancing down at Katara's bare midriff and silk skirt.

"Some of the women on the crew," Zuko snaps. "What difference does it make?"

"No difference. She looks lovely, that's all. Almost _Fire Nation,_ don't you think?"

Zuko looks away.

"And how about _you_, Sparrowkeet?" Azula is standing directly in front of Katara now, her smirk widening, her hands clasped behind her back. "Do you _feel_ Fire Nation?"

Katara raises her chin and wonders if she could choke this girl on her own saliva.

"I asked you a question."

She remains silent.

Azula's eyes narrow for the briefest moment, then she turns away with a wave of her spiked fingers. "She's very polite, Zuzu. Father is just going to _love _her."

Zuko stiffens, but the barb doesn't hit Katara; she has no intention of ever seeing the Capital, much less the Palace. By then she will either have escaped or died in the attempt. The potential reaction of the Fire Lord to her insolence is hardly a concern.

"Well, don't let me delay your little playdate, brother." Azula looks Zuko up and down like a viper bat, ready to strike with or without provocation. "Like I said, I was only curious. You'd best get back to training... below deck... where there's no chance of the Avatar spotting our _bait._"

Azula is barely out the door before Zuko is stripping off his tunic. "What are you doing?" Katara demands, her muscles shaking now that the danger has passed.

"Teaching you," he says flatly. "There's a way to channel lightning through the body without harm. I learned it from Uncle. Watch my movements carefully, you have to get this right fast."

"Why?"

Zuko's pale skin is covered with bruises and frost burns from their daily battles. "Because Azula likes to break my toys."

* * *

><p>They practice nothing but electric redirection for two days. Since Zuko can't produce lightning himself, there's no way to be sure she's doing it right; instead he simply drills her over and over and over on technique and the flow of chi. In one arm, through the stomach, out the other arm. In one arm, through the stomach, out the other arm.<p>

"I really think I've got it," Katara complains, bored and irritable. "Can we do _something_ else?"

"No. Again."

"But-"

"_Again._"

She throws a handful of water in his face - not a bend, just a regular splash from the barrel. He sputters and, wet hair sticking to his eyelashes, gives her such an incredulous, insulted, _childish _look of indignation that Katara bursts out laughing.

The annoyance fades from Zuko's expression. His mouth curls up in a hesitant half-smile.

And because she hates that she laughed and that she doesn't hate the half-smile, Katara shoots a high-pressure stream at his chest and knocks him back fifteen feet. He quickly counters with a blazing kick and they're fighting again, the way they should be.

* * *

><p>Katara has gotten so good at sensing the ship's vibrations that she thinks even Toph would be impressed. Given that she spends twenty hours a day in her room, it's not like she has much to do but study her surroundings - and the only part of her surroundings that changes is the feel of the engine.<p>

She knows when they're slowing down and when the captain has to steer against the weather. She knows when they're dodging icebergs and when they've stopped mid-ocean for repairs. And, of course, she always knows the tides.

She knows they're not making good time.

* * *

><p>It's another day where they fight themselves to a standstill and end slumped against opposite walls, exhausted and panting. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to think. All of the water is steam in the air and it reminds Katara painfully of her trip to the spa with Toph.<p>

Zuko gets up first. He crosses the room, limping - he'd fallen hard when she'd turned a puddle beneath him into an ice slick - and offers Katara a hand.

She turns her head.

After a long moment he withdraws, exhales smoke, and watches resentfully as Katara struggles to her feet. She desperately wants something to drink. It feels like every drop of moisture has been boiled out of her body.

Katara finds herself saying, "I'll take that tea now."

They don't speak on the walk to his quarters. She hasn't been to this part of the ship, and she keeps her eyes open for a window, a port hole, _anything_ that might allow her a glimpse of the open sky. But apparently Zuko doesn't care for that sort of thing, because his accommodations seem to be below water level.

Katara realizes quickly that on a vessel this large, a Fire Prince is entitled to multiple private rooms. This particular room is small and more comfortable than she would have expected for her sparring partner, so she assumes it was furnished by someone else. The low table in the center of the space holds a tea set, as well as several small dishes of food. Cushions line the walls. A red Fire Nation banner is flanked by two sconces.

Katara settles on the floor and crosses her legs, back straight, determined to ignore her nervousness. Having only seen three rooms for more than a month has made her uneasy about changes in her surroundings... and to think that not long ago, she felt relaxed in a new town almost every day.

Zuko sits down. He wets his lips. He stares at her.

A minute passes.

Finally Katara raises an eyebrow and glances pointedly at the teapot. Zuko's good cheek turns bright red, and he lights the fire beneath the pot with a snap of his fingers. "Sorry," he mutters.

Katara doesn't really know how to respond, so she just shrugs.

Zuko lines the tea cups along a slotted tray. When he pulls out the gai lids as well and awkwardly pours water over them she realizes he's going to do the formal ceremony; it means she'd be here that much longer and this is already difficult, so she says quickly, "Don't worry about that. I'm just thirsty."

Zuko manages to look simultaneously disappointed and relieved.

There's an uncomfortable silence. Even if Katara were inclined to speak - which she's not - she has no idea what she would say. It's not as though she and Zuko have had any real discussions; they train, not talk. Sometimes they've gone several days without speaking a word to one another.

"Do you want something to eat?" Zuko asks suddenly. He gestures at the little plates of food. "It's fresh, the servants bring it in just before I-"

"I don't like spicy food."

"The dumplings are mild, it's only the dipping sauce that's hot-"

"No." Katara can feel her grandmother frowning from thousands of miles away, so she reluctantly adds, "But thank you."

More silence.

Finally the brewing is finished and Zuko fills the cups. She waits for him to drink first - because you never know - before taking a sip.

She spits it back out.

The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation glares at Katara as she wipes her tongue with a napkin. "What was that for?" he demands furiously.

"It's awful!"

"Uncle said it was bracing."

"He lied."

Zuko pours her some plain water with a scowl.

Katara senses weakness and decides to press her advantage. This is another sparring match, after all, just in a new format. "I bet your uncle's having a good time making tea for Aang now."

Zuko's expression darkens further.

"In between all the firebending lessons, of course," she continues, taking a sip from her porcelain cup. "Aang's probably gotten pretty good by now. Better than you. Better than your sister. Better than your father."

"You're assuming," says Zuko, "that the Avatar is still alive."

"I know he is," Katara shoots back. "I healed him myself." But as she says the words she hopes Zuko doesn't notice how her heart is sinking. If everyone thinks Aang is dead it means he hasn't been seen; in other words, he hasn't tried to rescue her.

She tells herself this is a good thing. She tells herself this is what she wanted.

"You'll see," she says stubbornly. "He's alive. He's alive and he'll defeat the Fire Lord and he'll end this war."

"And then what?"

Katara frowns. "Huh?"

Zuko has set down his teacup; the fire of his bloodline is in his amber eyes. "The Avatar and the Earth Kingdom armies - what's left of them - are going to invade the Capital during the eclipse, right?"

The blood drains out of her face.

"Let's say they win. They won't, but let's say they do. Do you think the invaders are just going to go home afterward? You're not stupid, Katara. Think about it. If the Fire Nation falls then the Earth Kingdom will rule the world." His tone turns nasty. "Did you _like_ the way Ba Sing Se was run? _I_ didn't."

"No." Katara shakes her head slowly. "It won't be that way."

"What's the other option? Would you rather the Water Tribes control everything? Tell women they can only be healers or mothers?" His eyes flick to the carving Katara still wears around her neck. "Marry girls off to whoever can pay the most turtle seal shells or whatever it is you peasants bargain with?"

"Of course not! Aang wouldn't let that happen!"

"Oh, so the Avatar will rule?"

"_No!_ The Avatar restores balance!"

"_How?_"

"I don't know, but he _will!_"

Embers glow where Zuko's fingers touch the table. "I take it back. You _are_ stupid."

Katara is too furious to speak. She is _only _furious. She is very certain she is not hurt. She can't think of what else to do, so she bends water out of the teapot and douses the wood before it catches fire.

Zuko blinks at his soaked hands. The action seems to bring him back to himself; his shoulders slump and he pinches the bridge of his nose.

A few minutes later Katara has control of herself enough to mutter, "So why are you sharing your meal with a peasant, _Prince_ Zuko?"

He looks down. His finger runs around the edge of his teacup, and then he says quietly, "You were nice. And... you didn't have to be."

"You're right. I didn't." Katara makes her voice like the southern tundra. "Don't worry, it won't happen again."

Her words effectively end the conversation.

* * *

><p>She learns to conjure ice balls from the moisture in the air.<p>

He learns to create a stable wall of fire.

They keep having tea. His brewing skills improve. She's not really sure why he bothers.

* * *

><p><em>Today I cut Zuko's shoulder with a water blade then fought with him over who should get the last coconut butter cookie.<em>

What would Sokka say? _Well, it **was** a coconut butter cookie. Did you win?_

What would Aang say? _Maybe it would have been best to split the cookie. I hope you didn't get hurt._

What would Toph say? _Sugar Queen, you are in **so** much trouble._

* * *

><p>Sometimes they don't speak as they eat. Katara likes it when that happens; it disturbs her that conversation between them is becoming easy, in spite of her hatred. Quiet is less worrisome.<p>

At that moment, though, it's clear that Zuko's silence isn't from exhaustion. On the contrary, he can't sit still; he fidgets with his teacup and keeps glancing at her when he thinks she's not looking.

"_What?_" she finally snaps, irritated. "Do I have something in my hair?"

"How old are you?" Zuko blurts out.

She's not sure what she was expecting him to say, but it wasn't _that_. "I turned fifteen a couple months ago. Why?"

He frowns slightly, and his gaze drops to her throat. Katara reaches up to touch her necklace and understands. "It was my- it's just an heirloom," she says. She won't discuss her mother with him, not again. That's what got her into this mess in the first place.

"But I know what those mean," he says, frown deepening. "And I know that one is your family's. It's not... being reused?"

"No. I'm not engaged."

"Oh." Some of the tension goes out of his shoulders. "Not that it matters." He picks up his chopsticks and pokes at a sesame roll. "Engaged isn't married."

"No, I guess not." She narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Hey, how do you know what they mean? _I_ didn't even know until I got to the North Pole."

He gives her a strange look. "When you travel the whole world you pick things up. How did you _not_ know? _You're _the one wearing it."

"We don't have engagement necklaces in my village. The Southern Water Tribe isn't very formal... since it barely _exists_ anymore." She throws in the jab as a matter of course.

"So you wouldn't have had an arranged match?"

"I don't think so." Katara tries to picture a world where she matured with prospective suitors instead of just old women, babes, and her brother. "Well... I guess I could have. I mean, it happened _sometimes_." She was twelve when the warriors left, and as she recalls the roles of men and women had been... rigid. "Gran-Gran wouldn't have liked it. But I'm the last Waterbender in the south, so... they might have wanted me to start making more benders as soon as possible."

The edge of Zuko's napkin starts to smoke.

"What about you?" Katara presses, turning the line of questioning around. "You're a prince. Won't you have an arranged marriage?"

He pats the napkin quickly as he answers, "No. I would have had to choose someone _appropriate_, of course, but it still would have been up to me."

"Would have?"

"That was before I was banished. Until my father declares otherwise, I'm still honorless and not much of a catch." Zuko gestures bitterly at his face. "And this doesn't help."

For a moment Katara is genuinely confused - until she realizes he's referring to the scar. It's like Aang's blue arrow; she simply doesn't register it anymore. "I don't think that'll be a problem," she says without thinking.

Zuko's eyebrow shoots up and, to her horror, Katara feels a hot blush rise in her cheeks. "And Azula?" she says, grabbing a cookie. "What will happen to her?"

It seems to take Zuko a minute to process her words, but when he does he snorts in disgust. "That'll depend on me. If my honor is restored I'll be returned to the line of succession and Azula will eventually marry someone suitable. If I'm not, she'll be Fire Lord and she'll do as she pleases."

"She'll probably do that anyway," Katara says distantly. She's never actually considered that there would be a new Fire Lord after Aang destroys Ozai, let alone that that Fire Lord would be either Azula or Zuko. The former doesn't bear thinking about. The latter is... complicated.

Zuko shakes his head. "I don't envy her husband," he says, pouring another cup of tea.

Katara can't help but giggle, even though it's not really funny. "Siblings are tough," she offers. "My brother drives me nuts too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Of course, he doesn't shoot lightning or plot world domination."

Zuko smiles weakly.

As she lies in bed that night Katara thinks that her captor is more complex than she thought, and that that probably doesn't bode well for her.

* * *

><p>The guard delivers a qipao dress instead of her breakfast. "You've been invited to dine with Princess Azula," he says tersely. "Dress yourself."<p>

Katara feels the blood stop in her veins; she swears it takes conscious effort to make it move again. "Why?"

"Orders from the Princess are not for anyone to question. Be quick about it."

The door clangs shut, and Katara holds up the red brocade. It's thick and soft and clearly bears the royal Fire Nation insignia. She's never _touched_ clothes so extravagant, let alone worn them.

It makes her nervous.

Her hands aren't cuffed as she's led up and up and up the stairs, which keeps her even further off balance. Eventually the flights become steeper and shorter, and Katara figures they must be above deck in the tower.

The guard stops at a small landing and knocks on an engraved door.

"You may enter."

When Katara walks in she has to flinch away from a painful bright glare. Her first thought is that there has been an explosion. The second is that someone has lit a fire by her face.

"My, my. I don't think I've ever seen anyone afraid of a sunrise before."

Katara blinks several times.

She is facing a window. It is too high and narrow to see anything more than a long strip of blue sky, but the light filtering in is simultaneously painful and wonderful.

She can feel the _sun_.

Her breath catches in her chest.

"Will you be joining us before our breakfast get cold," says Azula, "or would you prefer to keep staring at nothingness?"

Katara looks down and actually takes in her surroundings. The room is large and opulent and richly decorated; a table is set with a variety of exotic-looking dishes that Katara suspects wouldburn her tongue right out of her mouth. Azula sits at the head, but there are two others as well: the girl with the knives and Ty Lee, the girl who can block chi.

It takes a great deal of effort for Katara not to back away. Azula is disturbing and the girl with the knives is just spooky, but Ty Lee is genuinely terrifying. It doesn't matter that she wears pink. No one should be able to take away bending.

"We've all met, but I don't believe we've had formal introductions," Azula says graciously, the half-smile on her lips a cold imitation of her brother's. "Sparrowkeet, this is Mai and Ty Lee. Mai and Ty Lee, allow me to present Princess Katara, daughter of the legendary Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe."

Katara is struck speechless.

Mai doesn't react. Ty Lee waves merrily. Azula gestures to the fourth chair. "Please, sit."

She does.

After a quick look up and down, Ty Lee claps her hands together with obvious delight. "You were right! She looks _great _in red!"

"Of course she does." Azula takes a prim sip of mango juice. "Like true Fire Nation royalty, wouldn't you say, Mai?"

Mai's eyes narrow very slightly.

Ty Lee cocks her head to the side. "Hey, wait... isn't that _your_ dress, Azula?"

Azula's smile widens as Katara freezes. "It is."

"Wow. That's really generous of you."

"Well, I thought the Princess and I ought to learn to share. Considering."

Heat rises to Katara's face as she resists the urge to tear off the qipao and slink under the table. She knows she's the butt of some joke, but she's not sure exactly what it is.

"And how is my brother these days, Sparrowkeet?" Azula continues. "He's been lurking below deck and we _never_ get a chance to talk. By the way, those eggs aren't poisoned."

Katara's appetite is gone and she has no intention of eating. She's also not going to play Azula's game when she doesn't even know what the rules are. Instead, she does the only thing she can: she keeps her mouth shut.

After a long moment of silence, Azula starts to laugh. "Your wit is _priceless_, Princess Katara. Didn't I tell you she was an exquisite conversationalist, ladies?"

"She's just shy," Ty Lee says encouragingly. "She's spending too much time with Zuko. Her aura is all _muddled_. A girls' day should help sort her out - I mean, her hair is _so _wrong for that outfit."

"Oh, come now, Ty Lee. I'm sure it will be all the rage within a few months. Mai, don't you agree?"

"No," the expressionless girl says curtly.

"Not to mention the waterbending," says Azula as though she hasn't heard Mai's reply. "Just wait. Fire will go completely out of style. In fact-" Azula looks like a cat with the sparrowkeet Katara is supposed to be "-why don't you give us a little demonstration, Princess? Something you've learned during all this _training _with my brother?"

Katara stares resolutely at the tabletop.

"Maybe some motivation," says Azula. She makes the smallest of gestures, and Katara's sleeve bursts into blue flame.

On pure instinct Katara bends the juice out of Ty Lee's glass and douses the fire. It doesn't even have a chance to touch her skin.

She notices her heart is going at about twice the normal rate.

Azula claps slowly as Ty Lee gasps. "Oh, no. Azula, that was your _prettiest _silk..."

"I'll survive," Azula says.

Mai's lips twitch as though she is suppressing the tiniest of smiles.

Breakfast lasts nearly two hours. Azula and Ty Lee continue to shower her with compliments; Mai steadily cheers up, or whatever seems to count as cheerful for Mai; Katara wishes the currents deep in the ocean would carry her far, far away.

It's Mai who takes her down to the training room, not Azula. Mai is very clearly fingering her shirukens as they walk, and Katara wonders if she will have gone through all the trouble of mastering waterbending only to be killed by a simple knife to the chest.

When they reach the double doors Mai pauses. She gives Katara a long, evaluating look, and Katara prepares to dodge. But all Mai does is shrug indifferently. "I guess there's no accounting for taste," she says. Then she bangs twice on the doors and disappears back toward the stairs.

Zuko is dressed for training and clearly irritated. "You were supposed to be here twenty-" He stops short and his eyes widen. "Katara? Why are you wearing a dress?"

Katara is silent.

He all but drags her down the halls. A few guards glance at each other knowingly on the way; Katara doesn't acknowledge their presence. Zuko pushes her into the tea room then slams the door behind them, throwing the bolt. "Did she hurt you?" he demands.

Katara shakes her head. It feels like her jaw is locked in place.

He spots the scorched sleeve. Grabbing her arm, he shoves the silk back as far as it will go and runs his fingers along the inside of her wrist. "Did she burn you?"

She studies the Fire Nation banner on the wall.

"_Answer me!_"

She keeps her teeth gritted tightly, but to her absolute, unending humiliation, her eyes fill with tears.

This long in captivity and it is a few catty comments that finally get to her.

A shuddering breath, then hot hands cup her face. "Katara, _Azula always lies._ Whatever she said to you, it doesn't matter. Azula _always_-"

"_Stop it!_" She knocks him away, all the rage she had to swallow that morning boiling to the surface. "Stop being nice to me! Stop acting like this isn't all your fault, because it _is!_"

"What? How it is _my_-"

"I _trusted_ you! I _trusted_ you and you _betrayed_ me!"

"I never betrayed _you_-"

"You _kidnapped_ me!"

"You're _prisoner of war__!_"

"I don't care! I _hate you!_"

The words are too loud for the tiny space.

Zuko stares at her, unblinking. He is as still as if he's frozen in ice. "Well," he says finally, "I don't hate you."

It is the very last thing she wants to hear. With something between a sob and a scream caught in her throat, Katara tackles him, intent on doing as much damage as she possibly can. He's taken completely by surprise and they both fall to the floor with a heavy thud.

The tea table crashes to the side. She lands a few hits, but Katara has had little experience with hand-to-hand combat; Zuko flips them over and pins her down with absolutely no effort. They are so close that his shaggy black hair is brushing her cheek, and she thinks she might spit at him again.

He kisses her before she can.

Now _she _is the one frozen in place. His lips are firm and insistent; his hands let go of her wrists and bury themselves in her hair, holding her head still. The way his body rocks makes it all too obvious what he is thinking of.

It is yet another sparring match, Katara realizes. He must be expecting her to falter and back down like a helpless little girl, the way he expected when he tied her to a tree. The way he expected at the North Pole. The way he expected in Ba Sing Se.

But she is not a little girl. She will not falter, and she _certainly_ will not back down.

She returns the kiss instead.

The room grows hot as Katara matches Zuko move for move. He coaxes her mouth open, but _she_ slides her tongue along his; he grabs her waist, so she arches into his grasp; when he fumbles with the ties of the qipao, she pulls his tunic over his head. They are at war and she _will_ best him.

It's not until his thumb hooks into the sarashi at her waist that Katara realizes just how far this new battle is going. But her pride won't let her shrink away. She pushes past the nervous flutters in her stomach and scrapes her nails down Zuko's back, wishing they were filed to points like his evil sister's.

He groans against her throat. It must mean she's winning.

But when he reaches between her legs, she finds herself choking on a whimper of her own. In fact, after a few strokes and a kiss to her earlobe, Katara is no longer sure what _winning_ is supposed to look like. She turns her head and stares at the upended tea table as his fingers slide shallowly into her body; it feels good and if she cries she swears she'll embed every one of her tears beneath his skin.

As he presses deeper, he is slow and careful - and a moment later he looks up in surprise.

Katara ignores his reaction. It's been half a year since she laid down in a treehouse and gave up the barrier he expected to find. He can believe whatever he wants, as far as she's concerned. She doesn't owe him any explanations.

Whatever Zuko is thinking, he keeps it to himself. But the restraint disappears from his touch; he nips his teeth along her neck and greedily rocks his hand with a movement that feels like firebending. It might be one, because there are flames building deep beneath the surface, ones that make her grind against his palm and clutch at his shoulders.

He's burning her, but she'll _drown _him. It takes nothing to reach into his leggings, and when she brushes across him his eyes glaze over with desperation. She runs her fingers up and down in response - steady, even, waterbending caresses - and squeezes his flesh experimentally.

Then her bindings are off and he's parting her knees. "I'm not taking anything," he says as he positions himself. The words are certain, but his tone asks her a million questions.

Katara answers none of them. She just tilts her hips and helps him push inside.

* * *

><p><em>Today I had sex with Prince Zuko.<em>

What would Sokka say? _Tell me you're joking._

What would Aang say? _Tell me you're joking._

What would Toph say? _Tell me you're fucking joking._

* * *

><p>The next morning she's taken to the training room, just like always. She and Zuko fight without incident. He treats her no differently.<p>

They don't speak over tea.

The boarcupine bao is gone and the last coconut butter cookie has been eaten before Zuko asks, "Did I hurt you?" He is focused on the now slightly battered table; a heavy blush colors his cheek.

"No." Even if he had Katara would not have admitted so.

The blush crawls down his neck. "Did you hate it?"

Here is a place she could easily lie - but, again, that would be winning this competition of theirs by cheating. Katara does not cheat. "No."

The look of relief on his face is impossible to miss. Katara assumes he was worried about his prowess; Gran-Gran always told her men concern themselves heavily with such things.

She doesn't ask if _he _hated it. He had finished gasping and trembling, so she must have done something right. And Jet had praised her highly, back then, when she was living a different life. Though Jet was not known for his honesty.

Katara is not all that surprised when Zuko reaches for her wrist and pulls her to the other side of the table. What _does _surprise her is that his kiss is soft and quiet, and that the hand on her lower back whispers across her skin. He must be adapting his strategy of attack.

But she will not let him fool her _this_ way, either. Katara can do gentle just as effectively as he can. She's sure of it.

She sinks into his lap.

This time they get undressed. Katara is happy for the dim light, which she hopes will mask her inexperience; Zuko seems to understand her body better than she understands his, and the imbalance makes her seethe beneath the surface. But she is a quick learner, and she'll master him the same way she mastered waterbending.

In this situation, the best defense is a good offense. She rolls them over and settles a knee on each side of his waist; now _she _is the one in control. This position presents the opportunity for her to explore his exposed chest, and for a brief moment she feels a twinge of guilt about all the marks from their training. She is healing herself every night; he has to mend on his own. Still, as far as she's concerned, that's his own fault. All of this is his fault.

When she laps softly at his collarbone his hands tighten on her hips and his breath escapes in a hiss. She thinks she is doing well, all things considered.

Katara is improvising when she leans back and lowers herself onto him, but she tries not to let Zuko notice. Instinct is her guide; she simply moves up and down and follows the pathway of her own pleasure. Her path seems to be his path as well, and he helps her along by feverishly touching all the right places. She has to admit this new form of sparring feels much better than the other kind.

When they're done he again presses his lips to hers. She finds that strange, because the duel has ended and there is no point.

* * *

><p>The recent confusion has been so consuming that Katara doesn't think of the danger until that night. When she does it hits her like a tsunami.<p>

She jumps out of bed and bangs on the door. "Hey! _Hey!_ Open up!"

The Dai Li guard has a wary expression and a rock suspended mid-air when he peeks inside. "What?"

"I need tea."

He rolls his eyes. "You _had _tea."

"Well, I need more. I need a special tea." Katara forces a shy, pretty blush. "For... you know... girl things."

The guard - this one is young - pales immediately. "Oh. Uh... right. Um. Okay."

"Just ask the cook to add black dragon root to the leaves." She prays the cook believes the old story that black dragon root is only for monthly cramps - and that it's not too late for root to have its real effect.

When the guard returns ten minutes later his hands are empty. "The cook says your tea has always had that stuff, so if you're still having problems with your... um... girl things... there's nothing he can do."

She goes cold. "My tea has _always..._"

"Yep. Princess Azula's orders."

Katara spends the rest of the night vomiting, but for different reasons than she had feared.

* * *

><p>She sends the ice blades for his throat. He parries with a fireball and a look of surprise, but if he meant to speak he has no time; she forces him to use his breath blocking the onslaught of her attacks.<p>

It has been a long time since they've genuinely tried to injure one another. Training has become just that: training. Learning the styles of the opposite element. Adapting methods to their own individual techniques. Inventing. Experimenting.

Now Katara is trying to kill him - and when Zuko's defenses don't turn to offense, it only enrages her further. "_Did you plan this?_"

He retreats, his kicking arc slicing through her whip. She reforms it and shouts again, "What do you think, _Prince_ Zuko? Am I _of use to you in this condition?_"

She had believed him when he'd said _that_ wasn't what he wanted her for. She'd believed that their new _sparring _was just an extension of the war they've been battling for nearly a year, which had simply escalated and escalated until they'd fallen into one more way to fight.

But she's been drinking contraceptive since the day she was brought on board.

She has been tricked _again_.

The blast catches her off guard; it throws her from her feet and knocks the breath from her lungs and then Zuko is standing over her with an exasperated expression. "Katara, I have _no _idea what you're talking about."

The pain isn't only in her body. "You should have just asked me to train naked," she says venomously. "It would have saved us both a lot of time."

The shock and hurt on his face nearly makes her look away. But her fury would match that of any Firebender, so she stands and and unties the red fabric serving as her top, tossing it aside. "What?" she taunts as Zuko's eyes automatically drop to her breasts. "Isn't this what I'm _supposed_ to do?"

He shakes his head slowly.

"I'm your _pet_, right?" The skirt is next, followed by the cloth beneath. The meaning behind Azula's mocking comments finally clicks into place. "Your little _sparrowkeet_."

She has never been a war prisoner or a sparring partner or bait for Aang.

She has been a whore.

Despite the bulge in his leggings and the sparks igniting from his fingertips, Zuko doesn't reach for her. Katara tosses sweaty hair over her shoulder. "What's wrong? Isn't this part of your plan?"

"Katara," he says, "if there was a plan, _believe_ me, this wasn't part of it."

Something in his tone nearly makes her falter, but she squashes the flicker of uncertainty. "I _don't._ Believe you, that is."

"You think I would _intend _to feel like this?" His voice is harsh but the heat in his eyes isn't from anger. "There is _no_ advantage to it. _None._ But I'm still..."

Confusion subsumes Katara's outrage. "Still what?"

Zuko _does_ reach out now, and she's too bewildered to pull away. "Red isn't really your color," he growls, forcing her to retreat step by step. Then he grabs the backs of her thighs and lifts her clear off the ground, bracing her weight against the cold metal wall. "And I _don't care._"

He takes her hard and bruisingly fast, with Katara scrabbling to keep her balance against his uneven thrusts. She's not sure if she's crying out in pain or pleasure, but she doesn't want him to stop until she figures it out, and the sensations running up her spine make her question his inability to conjure lightning.

His grip is going to leave marks on her legs.

After he gasps against her shoulder, he lowers her to the floor and rains gentle kisses across her skin; it raises enough doubt for her to say, "Let's have black dragon root with tea."

He steps back and gives her a puzzled look. "What's that?"

The relief makes Katara light-headed. "Never mind," she says, mentally plotting her revenge on Azula. "You probably wouldn't like it."

In the tea room she falls asleep before they've finished eating and wakes to Zuko lying by her side, trailing his fingers through her hair.

* * *

><p>The days blur together in a haze of glinting metal and red banners.<p>

In the training room she learns to block every conceivable move and return attacks with equal ferocity.

In the tea room she learns which foods are bland without dipping sauce.

On the cushions she learns what makes him smile or shiver or grit his teeth against a moan.

If nothing else, her captivity has become very educational.

* * *

><p>One afternoon he suggests that his bedroom might be more comfortable than hers. She acts as though he hasn't spoken, and he doesn't bring it up again.<p>

She's careful to always drink her tea.

* * *

><p>"Who was it?"<p>

Katara lifts her head from the pillows. She's in a smug sort of daze; Zuko has been rubbing at a knot in her lower back for the last ten minutes and her mind has gone all fuzzy. But she's learned to use her mouth on him, so in spite of the massage she still _definitely_ won this match. "Who was who?"

"Before me." Zuko doesn't look up, but she can see the tight muscle in his jaw. "Who was it?"

She turns her face away and looks at the wall. "Why does it matter?"

His hand drifts lower and strokes the curve of her bare backside. "I just want to know," he mutters.

"You never met him." She closes her eyes and remembers Jet's pained expression, Toph's quiet _He's lying_. "He's gone now, anyway."

The stroking pauses momentarily, then resumes, a little gentler this time. "Oh."

"Who was it before _me_?" Katara asks, parrying and riposting the way she always does in their conversations. It's obvious there _has _been someone; he knows too much about what he's doing.

"Why does it matter?" he throws back at her.

"It doesn't, but _you_ asked."

He makes a humphing noise and Katara smirks in triumph. "I didn't know her name," he says grudgingly.

She rolls her eyes. "Typical."

"_Yes_, typical," he snaps. The warm hand disappears from her skin and Katara suppresses a little whine of protest. "Why would I have?"

Katara turns over onto her back. "You don't think you should know what to _call_ the person you're taking to bed?"

Zuko's eyebrow furrows. "There wasn't a bed."

"Oh. Right." Katara is catching on, and her disgust is deepening. "So the sailors took you to a whorehouse, is what you're saying."

Now Zuko looks completely affronted. "_No._ She was very respectable and a very good teacher. My father wouldn't have chosen her otherwise."

"Your- wait, what? Your father _chose_?"

Pink tints his pale cheek, but the expression of pride doesn't fade. "It's tradition."

"A _creepy_ tradition."

"And having your father choose your _husband _is so much better?"

"I didn't say it was!" Katara blinks. "How old were you, anyway?"

"Thirteen." At her expression, Zuko adds defensively, "It was my birthday."

She just shakes her head in amazement. "When Sokka turned thirteen," she says, "our father gave him a seal skin belt."

"I like my present more."

"It was a really nice belt."

"I hope your brother didn't use it the same way."

Katara opens her mouth to retort - then the image of Sokka doing _things_ with the seal skin floods her brain, and she can't hold back a sputtering laugh. Zuko smiles down at her, looking pleased with himself.

The laugh becomes a sob.

She might never see her brother and his seal skin belt again. She doesn't know where Sokka is. She doesn't know if someone's washing his disgusting socks, or if someone's keeping Aang from being sad, or if someone's stopping Toph from insulting everyone, or if Gran-Gran made it through the winter...

"Katara?"

She quickly rolls onto her side and hides her face. "I want to go home," she bawls, curling into a fetal position. "I want to go _home_..."

After a long moment the hand returns to her back, where it rubs a slow circle. "That's something else we have in common."

Katara would cover her ears to shut out his sympathy, but that would mean letting him see her tears.

"The Fire Nation... it's beautiful," he continues. He works again at the tension near her spine and Katara lets out an unwilling moan. "If the volcanoes are awake the whole sky glows. When it gets hot in the summer everyone goes to the beach and swims and the ocean is clear and blue and salty..."

His fingers span over her side, across her hip, his thumb still keeping soft pressure on the sore spot.

"...and the palace gardens are full of ash banana trees and fountains and ponds. There's turtle ducks." She hears Zuko swallow. "I think you'll really like it there, if you just... give it a chance." Warm lips brush her shoulder. "You'll always be around water."

She stiffens as the implication of his words hits her like a slap.

He doesn't think of this as a sparring match.

Her back heats as Zuko spoons against it; he slips inside and moves slowly and his hand reaches around to fondle her breast. "And you can wear whatever colors you want," he murmurs, his voice hitching with each thrust. "I won't let anyone say a word about it."

Her body goes through the motions. Her mind is worlds away.

* * *

><p><em>Today I realized Zuko loves me.<em>

What would Sokka say? _He **what**? I'm gonna break his legs. Then you're gonna heal him and I'm gonna break his legs again._

What would Aang say? _...he'd be stupid not to, Katara._

What would Toph say? _I **told** you you were in trouble, but did you listen? Nooo..._

* * *

><p>She tells herself this isn't what she wanted when she set out to master him. She tells herself that no matter what he's done she's still being cruel and unfair. She tells herself she is going to stop.<p>

Her resolve never lasts beyond a few kisses to her throat.

* * *

><p>Katara is roused from sleep by a hand clapped over her mouth. It takes her a moment to react, but then she hits out wildly and takes a breath to scream-<p>

"Quiet!" Zuko's voice hisses in her ear. "It's just me!"

Her heart flying a million miles an hour, Katara gives the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation her very best _Eat dirt and die_ look. He removes his hand and she growls, "You _scared_ me!"

"Oh. Sorry."

"What are you doing here?"

"I have a surprise for you."

"_Now?_ What time is it?"

"Late. Or early. Depends on how you look at it. Come on, get up."

When Katara rolls out of bed, Zuko's eyes gleam. She's in her usual sarashi wraps - which Zuko has seen her in dozens of times - and his reaction is always the same. Katara wonders briefly if they'll even make it out of the room, but he shakes his head and hands her a simple dressing robe. He's only wearing loose pants. "Hurry up. We don't have long."

As Zuko pulls her through the hall, Katara glances around. Things are suspiciously quiet. "Where is everyone?"

"Downstairs in the kitchen."

"Why?"

"They're... putting out a fire."

"_What?_"

"It's just a little one! Do you want your surprise or not?"

"Okay, okay."

As they continue to sneak through passageways, Katara notices that he's leading her up. And up. And up...

Then he turns a wheel on an oval door and cool night air blows across Katara's face.

She is outside.

Her breath comes into her lungs in shaky gasps. The sky overhead is dark and clear, lit by a crescent moon; as her eyes adjust she can make out the stern of the ship and the vague horizon line where the stars disappear and the ocean begins. She can hear the gentle rhythmic slap of waves against the hull.

Zuko steps into her field of vision; his face is strangely blurry. "This wasn't supposed to make you cry," he says.

Katara swipes at her cheeks in surprise. "Sorry. I didn't realize."

"You can come out further if you want. There's no guards around."

"Yeah." She walks forward, each step feeling strange, until she wraps her fingers hard around the railing and looks down into the sea. The moon reflects off the water in broken patches.

She's scared, not being surrounded by walls, and she's scared that she's scared.

"We've got about ten minutes," Zuko says, leaning next to her. "If you're back in your room by then no one will know you were gone."

"I guess we'd both get in trouble."

"I let a Waterbender out on deck in the middle of the night. That's not smiled on in the Fire Nation navy, even for princes."

"Right."

"And I don't want you sent back to the prison hold. I couldn't..." He trails off, then a wry half-smile crosses his lips. "We couldn't keep having tea if you were down there."

Katara wishes she could bend the waves just high enough to dip her hands in the water, but it's too risky. "We couldn't spar anymore, either."

"I don't care about that. I don't want to fight you." He reaches for her face, rubbing her tears away with an uncertain expression. "Why are you still crying?"

She leans slightly into his touch. Katara doesn't know how to explain that seeing the moon and smelling the ocean feels good and makes it all so much worse, because it has reminded her of the days when she could see the moon whenever she wanted. Because the daze of the previous weeks is washing away with every wave that passes beneath her feet, and he might not want to fight her but _she _is going to fight _him_.

She still wants her freedom.

"Thank you for bringing me out here, Zuko," she says softly. "It's... clearing my head."

He brushes his thumb across her lips, tracing their outline.

"Well, isn't this sweet."

Zuko jerks away, and Katara turns to look at the figure standing mid-deck.

Azula's red lipstick is almost black in the darkness of night. "Zuko," she says, shaking her head, "you are the _worst_ sneak in the history of the Fire Nation."

He bristles.

"The kitchen is fine, by the way. No major damage from a sudden but completely ordinary incident where a stove burst into flame for no apparent reason."

"Glad to hear it," he says curtly. His fingers lock onto Katara's wrist and she tries not to grimace.

Azula watches for another long moment, then dismisses them with a little wave of her hand. "All right, you've taken your pet out for a walk. Now get her back to her kennel before anyone sees."

Blood boils through Katara's veins - she doesn't know _how_ Azula always knows the most hurtful thing to say, but she does - but before she can think of a retort, Zuko starts tugging her away. The stars are about to disappear again.

"Zuzu? Since I'm being so generous, would you indulge me by answering a question?"

Katara can hear Zuko's teeth grind, but he stops.

"How do you imagine this little story is going to end?"

His hand tightens around her wrist. "I don't know what you mean."

"Of course you do. Tell me, and don't bother lying. You're terrible at it." Azula sounds almost compassionate. "Do you think you can hide her in the Palace and no one will notice?"

He doesn't reply.

"But that's the whole problem, isn't it? You don't _want_ to keep her hidden."

"We captured Ba Sing Se." In contrast to his sister's sweetness, Zuko's tone is flat. "You said it yourself, we'll be welcomed home as heroes-"

"-which _might_ make up for your _past _transgressions. But there isn't an Avatar to chase anymore. You have nothing to offer, nothing to bargain with. You'll never convince Father to let you put the Fire Lady's crown on that peasant's head, and you know it."

"Stop it, Azula."

"Honestly, Zuko, can you even _imagine _his reaction? Agni Kai will be the least of your worries. You'll be _lucky _if all he does is burn off the other half of your face."

"_Stop it._"

"He might decide your little pet should match-"

"_Shut up!_" Katara finds herself shoved away, and then her vision lights up as flames blast into the night sky.

The Prince is shouting and the Princess is saving her breath, so it's only a few moments before blue overwhelms red; Zuko's body flies backward and hits the railing with a sickening crack. He groans as Azula shakes her head. "I'm only trying to help you, dum-dum."

"_Leave him alone_."

Azula glances at Katara with raised eyebrows, then blinks and looks up.

The ship is surrounded by fifty foot walls of water. They block out the moon.

Lightning sparks between Azula's palms as she looks back at the Waterbender. Her expression doesn't change. "We both know you won't do it," she says.

Katara shifts her stance and the tips of the walls start to crest. Foam patters softly onto the deck. "Don't be so sure."

Orange flickers and reflects against the waves as Zuko struggles back to his feet, fire in his hands.

A beat.

Then Azula sighs and shrugs her shoulders. The electricity disappears from her fingertips. "You might want to head below before the guards arrive," she says carelessly.

The ship rocks as Katara releases the water and allows it to sink back harmlessly into the sea. As she wraps an arm around Zuko to help him to the door, Azula calls to her, "By the way, we dock evening after next."

Katara freezes.

"And you're welcome for the dragon root," Azula adds.

Zuko is trembling by the time Katara retraces their steps to her room. She closes the door and pushes him to sit on the little bed. "Lie down and turn over," she whispers. The guard could be back at any moment. "Let me take a look."

He reaches for the tie on her dressing robe instead. She smacks his arm. "Stop that. I need to see how bad she hurt you."

"I'm fine." The robe comes apart and his shaking hands grab at her sides.

"Zuko-"

In a quick move Katara finds herself flat on her back with Zuko's weight pressing her into the mattress. "Azula always lies," he mumbles against her neck. His eyes are squeezed shut. "Azula always lies."

"_Zuko_-"

"Azula _always_-"

Katara reaches around and slaps the flat of her hand against Zuko's back. He yelps and flinches away. "You're _injured_," she says sharply. "Get off of me so I can fix it."

Zuko hesitates, but then he lifts himself up with a sigh, giving her space to wriggle out from underneath him. "I don't need any help," he mutters.

"Sure you don't. Like you didn't need any help up on deck."

"I was doing fine."

"Your sister was about to roast you into little prince-kabobs."

He humphs.

After wetting her hands in the sink, Katara straddles Zuko's thighs and tries to change her mindset from combatant to medic. The blue glow of her gloves highlight angry bruises along his back, and she winces as she probes deeper. "You cracked a few ribs."

"I fought Azula. It's a hazard."

The first pass begins the knitting process, but only just. She realizes it's going to take a lot of time to repair him, longer than they have before the guards come back from the fire. "You're going to have to stay here tonight."

He nods into the pillow.

Katara gives him a moment to breathe before making a second run across his fractured bones. It reminds her uncomfortably of Lake Laogai and how she'd tried to do this for Jet, so to distract herself she asks, "Is this hurting too much? Should I be gentler?"

"No, it's okay." He pauses. "You've never healed me before."

That had occurred to her. "It's usually me who's kicking your butt," she says, trying to keep her voice light. "It would kind of defeat the purpose if I fixed you up afterward."

"It feels good."

"Don't lie. It's a painful process."

"Feels good anyway."

As she prepares for the third pass she feels him shift uncomfortably, so she holds off for another minute, giving him time to recover. As she waits she touches the edge of his disfigured ear. She's not surprised when there's no effect; scars aren't injuries and don't respond to healing. "So... your father did this?" she asks hesitantly.

"Yes."

When they'd first met she'd thought he'd had an accident of some kind; once she realized he was too talented for that, she'd assumed Azula was responsible. That it might have been the Fire Lord had never occured to her. "Why?"

It's a long, miserable silence before Zuko responds. "I begged when I should have fought. I was weak. He was right to do it."

Katara swallows against sudden nausea.

"But things will be different, now. The Earth Kingdom has fallen. The Avatar is defeated or dead. Father will restore my honor. And I... he'll see. He'll understand."

This time the bones truly set and Katara is able to start working on the surrounding contusions. She lifts a few frostburns while she's at it. "In the Water Tribes," she says, "we're taught that honor is something you gain or lose on your own. No one else can take it from you. No one else can restore it."

"That's nice. You're wrong, but it's nice."

She pokes his side. "This isn't a good time to disagree with me. I've got you at my mercy."

"Yeah. I know." She can feel him mending and growing sleepy under her hands; his next words are thick. "Do you still hate me, Katara?"

She exhales and, in spite of herself, runs her fingers along an uninjured part of his skin. "No." It's a surprise to her. A sad one. "I guess I don't."

He dozes off a few minutes later. She sits awake for the rest of the night.

* * *

><p>Katara sets aside some of each of her next meals. She creates a makeshift sack out of scraps of her blanket to carry them in.<p>

She refuses to spar for the next two days, since he is still recovering, even though she knows her healing was thorough. They go straight to tea and when he kisses her stomach he gives no indication that he knows what's coming.

Katara thinks that Azula lies to Zuko far less than Zuko lies to himself.

* * *

><p>She waits in the bathroom as soon as the engines begin to slow. Through the tap she can feel the vibrations grow longer, lower, deeper. Finally they grind to a halt.<p>

In that moment she freezes all the water in the pipes to ice.

Within seconds blasts start to rock the ship. Iron fractures and breaks; pumps back up and erupt; boiler pressure rises and shoots steam in every direction. A cacophony of shouts and stomping boots fills the halls.

Katara snaps a small water whip at the lock of her door. It is built nothing like the one on her old cell in the prison hold and falls apart in a single hit.

In the chaos, no one is prepared to stop her; the few crew members who reach out find themselves whirled aside or slipping on ice slicks. Katara runs up and up and up, her lungs burning with exertion, seeking the wheeled door that had led out onto the deck.

Mai is waiting.

Katara skids to a halt. The whips in the air fatten and come together, ready to be formed into a weapon or a wall at a moment's notice. She holds her sack in front of her chest.

The expressionless girl tosses a stiletto from hand to hand. Her shiny black hair is still perfect, even though steam is beginning to fill the hallway. "I think you've destroyed this ship," she says blandly. "It's the first interesting thing to happen in months."

She doesn't have any time to waste. "Get out of my way. Now."

The knife continues to flip back and forth, back and forth. And then, to Katara's complete shock, Mai steps aside and opens the door. "Go on, then."

Katara steps backward and closes her free hand into a fist. It has to be a trap.

Mai shakes her head with a sigh. "I'm not going to hold this door open forever. It's a limited time offer. I suggest you take it."

After a moment, Katara realizes Mai is serious. "But why?" she asks, flabbergasted. "Why are you helping me?"

Mai doesn't so much as twitch an eyebrow. "Because sooner or later Azula will kill you, and he doesn't deserve that. Now get out."

When Katara dashes away she fully expects to feel shirukens sink into her back. But no pain comes. She hears the door clang shut behind her.

The harbor is massive. Dozens of vessels stretch in every direction, huge war ships the size of her whole village and little fighter boats that look like toys in a bathtub; people in armor scurry like ants across planks and up ramps carrying sacks and armfuls of weapons. Red-roofed markets and military buildings line the shore and a white wall separates them from the surrounding mountains. It's late evening. The sky is lit orange in the west, backlighting the craggy tip of the volcano that overshadows them all.

She realizes Zuko was right. In its own way, the Fire Nation _is _beautiful.

The deck is beginning to list aft; the first crew members are escaping into the open air, looking wet and worried. The ship _is _going to sink, but the water can't be too deep. It'll roll onto its side and the hull will settle in the mud, but it won't entirely go under. No one will drown. At least Katara hopes not. She doesn't want to kill anyone - she just wants to get away.

The engines had stopped but the ship hadn't been prepared for disembarking, so there are no ramps connecting to the dock. Katara leaps right over the railing and falls twenty feet to land on the wooden planks, using all of her bender agility to not break her legs in the process. It's still a near thing. Pain shoots up her ankles and she falls with a grunt. She prays she just looks like another citizen fleeing the damaged vessel as she scrabbles back to her feet and breaks into a sprint.

An enormous arc of fire severs the dock, cutting her off from the land.

She drops her sack and spins around with a wave of ice.

It has been a very long time since Zuko and Katara battled outside of the training room, and she is amazed at how enormous the explosions can be. They have come a long way from their fight in the Crystal Catacombs and she's not limited by a canal this time - the entire bay is at her command. But he told her once that fire is fueled by powerful emotion, and his emotions are more than a match for all the water she can call.

She can't win because he's learned from her. She can't lose because she's learned from him.

It ends with the dock half-burned, half-submerged. It ends with them an arm's length apart holding blades of fire and ice to each other's throats.

Katara can feel the flames singeing the curls just behind her ear but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as the look on Zuko's face. "I'm leaving," she says.

"No."

She presses the ice closer to his neck, and the point nicks the skin. She can smell her freedom. It mingles with the smell of his blood and her burning hair. "Please," Katara whispers. She tells herself it's the smoke making her eyes fill with tears. "_Please _don't make me do this."

He swallows, and it makes the ice cuts deeper. For a long moment, neither of them moves.

Then, with a gesture of his hand, the fire blade disappears.

Katara steps back warily, keeping her weapon pointed in his direction. He watches and looks every bit like the banished prince who chased them across the world.

People are beginning to shout nearby. Her waterbending has not gone unnoticed.

"Do you have a plan?" Zuko says.

"Not really." She'll make her way to the small towns and listen for rumors of a flying bison. How long that takes, or what she does in the meantime, is anyone's guess. "I'll just figure it out as I go."

"That's idiotic."

"Says Mister I'll-Walk-From-The-North-Pole."

He snorts.

A few more steps backward, and she allows the ice to fall from her fingertips. "Come with me."

Zuko frowns. "What?"

"Come with me," Katara repeats, wanting to stop the splintering she feels inside. She wonders what it would be like if things were different, if the two of them had tea over a campfire and shared a tent and looked up at open skies. It's hard to picture but not impossible. "We'll find Aang and your uncle. You can help us fight. I _know_ you, Zuko, and you're better than this."

A visible shiver runs through him; his golden eyes search her expression, rake down her body, and she can feel the fire in them like the flames still licking at the planks. He takes a half-step toward her.

Then his gaze turns to the shadow of the volcano, and something longing and desperate crosses his face.

Katara knows she has lost.

She bends down to pick up her bag. The ship is sinking deeper. People are beginning to run in their direction. She walks to the edge of the dock and prepares to swim as far as a Master Waterbender possibly can.

A strong arm wraps around her waist and yanks her back. "I'm going to find you," Zuko murmurs in her ear. She is tied to a tree again, feeling warm breath brush across her neck. "I don't care what happens. Once my honor is restored I'm going to find you. I'll hunt _everywhere_."

This time it is different; she is not a scared girl who can't form a water whip and he is not an exiled boy throwing tantrums in the woods. Katara reaches up and pulls the stone carving from her throat, then holds it over her shoulder without looking back. "This helped you find me before, didn't it?"

She hears him inhale sharply, then she is slowly released from the embrace. The suede ribbon pulls through her fingers.

"Be careful," Katara says. "If you lose it I'll freeze you to a wall."

And she dives.

* * *

><p>When he walks into the Western Air Temple three months later with her mother's necklace on his wrist and his father's war plans in his hand, she is the first one to smile.<p> 


	2. The Princess

__**A/N**: I've committed the fanfic sin of becoming interested in my own AU. I've also committed the audreyii_fic sin of saying "This is IT, I'm not writing ANYTHING more" and then turning around and writing more.  
><em>_

_So, yeah, more Sparrowkeet!verse. I would recommend thinking of these less as chapters and more as a collection of single-universe one-shots. There will be no consistent format, style, or length; they won't necessarily be in chronological order of the universe timeline. I swear I'm not doing it to be needlessly confusing, I'm just not sure where the hell this will go. I'll add to it whenever something occurs to me._

_**This particular story is a series of 100 word drabbles. I have no idea why.  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Princess<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from snares, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognise snares, and a lion to frighten wolves. Those that wish to be only lions do not understand this.<br>__-**Niccolo Machiavelli, "The Prince"**_

* * *

><p><strong>i<strong>.

_Your Princess Azula, clever and beautiful, disguised herself as the enemy and entered the Earth Kingdom Capital. In Ba Sing Se, she found her brother Zuko, and together they faced the Avatar._

_And the Avatar fell._

_And the Earth Kingdom fell._

_Azula's agents quickly overtook the entire city. They went to Ba Sing Se's great walls and brought them down._

_The armies of the Fire Nation surged through the walls and swarmed over Ba Sing Se, securing our victory._

_Now the heroes have returned home._

* * *

><p><strong>ii<strong>.

General Iroh had laid siege to Ba Sing Se for six hundred days; Princess Azula and Prince Zuko took the Impenetrable City in a month.

They needed no invasion, only a quiet coup. The Earth Kingdom's last stronghold fell without a drop of blood - and the Avatar had been defeated in the bargain.

All in all, the glorious victory is sufficient; the Fire Lord overlooks the elusion of his brother and the loss of a warship (sunk in the harbor by an escaping prisoner).

In fact, Father even smiles - at Azula.

To Zuko he says: _You may stay_.

* * *

><p><strong>iii<strong>.

When they were little - very little - they were friends. In a way. Azula had no one but Zuko and Zuko had no one but Azula.

She recalls splashing in the ocean at Ember Island, and how Zuko would build sandcastles for her to kick over. At least she thinks that was why he built them. That's how she remembers it.

Then Azula firebent first.

She'd always known inside that she was better, best, but this proved it. Five years old and firebending.

Zuko was seven and could barely light a _match_.

There were no more sandcastles after that.

* * *

><p><strong>iv<strong>.

A week has passed since their return. Sozin's Comet is only a few months away; there is a whole _war_ to plan. And still Zuko only mopes and stares at turtle ducks and plays with some stupid necklace.

Ridiculous.

Azula steps between her brother and the pond. _Are you going to do __**anything**__ except sit there and be dramatic?_

_Go away._

_Dramatic it is._

Zuko ignores her.

_After all that time, after all that **work** to come home, you should at least **try** to enjoy it, dum-dum. You should be **happy**._

_I **am** happy._

That doesn't even deserve a response.

* * *

><p><strong>v<strong>.

She never thought he'd get _banished_.

The Agni Kai made perfect sense. Zuko insulted Father by speaking out of turn; it was only _natural_ that Father would be his opponent. Zuko was stupid to expect otherwise.

And to refuse to fight - to _beg on his knees!_ An opponent who begs deserves no mercy.

But _banishment_.

Hadn't Zuko still been of royal blood?

Azula knew the advantages of Zuko's exile. For three years she commanded respect as Crown Princess and sole heir. Not a single Fire Sage would question her right to rule.

But she had no one to tease.

* * *

><p><strong>vi<strong>.

She lies for him.

She's not sure why. Maybe blackmail; maybe future advantage. Maybe she just doesn't want _anyone_ in the family to look bad, not even him.

They _are_ brother and sister, after all.

_When the time came, Zuko struck down the Avatar. He chose the Fire Nation. He is not a traitor._

Father seems to be considering her words.

Azula doesn't mention the Waterbender. Father wouldn't object to _use_ of a prisoner - but Zuko could confess to more than that and ruin himself.

Eventually the Fire Lord says: _I trust your judgment, Princess Azula._

As he should.

* * *

><p><strong>vii<strong>.

She killed a servant when she was six. (By accident, of _course_. A training session gone awry, no more.) That was when whispers started.

_Spirit._

_Demon._

_Lady Ilya, returned to haunt us._

(The tales of her grandmother were the sort people told around campfires. Ilya could turn from laughing friend to deadly foe in the space of a single sentence, a woman who didn't _need_ to bend because the Fire Lord was wrapped around her finger. Azula found the comparison flattering.)

_What is **wrong** with that child?_

There was nothing _wrong_ with her. She was simply _better_.

_Monster_.

Why not?

* * *

><p><strong>viii<strong>.

_Ugh. If we **talk**, will you stop this?_

_Talk?_

_You know. Have a heart-to-heart. Or something equally moronic._

_You wouldn't understand._

_I don't **need** to understand. You'll sit there and tell me about your **issues**, I'll nod and say "Mm-hmm" a lot, then you'll weep like a little girl and we can go **on** with our lives._

_Leave me alone, Azula._

_No. Do you have **any** idea how **pathetic** you look? A Royal Prince of the Fire Nation, mooning over some stupid, dirty, in-bred-_

Flames in the air. _Don't talk about her like that!_

Well, at least he's fighting back.

* * *

><p><strong>ix<strong>.

Mama's Boy. Daddy's Girl.

To the outsider, it may not seem like much difference - but outsiders were fools who passed judgment on things they could not understand. When one parent is clearly superior to the other, a child is not injured by the disinterestedness of the inferior parent. In fact, a child _benefits_ from the inattention of the weak link.

Mother was weak. Father was strong. Father had _visions_ for the future. Mother only wanted to feed the turtle ducks. This is why Zuko is Zuko and Azula is Azula.

It is _far_ better to be a Daddy's Girl.

* * *

><p><strong>x<strong>.

During the war meeting Zuko sits at Father's right hand. Azula doesn't let this bother her. She always defeats Zuko in the end.

First, strategies for the Day of Black Sun. Azula makes mental adjustments to compensate for the foolishness of the generals. The first thing she will do as Fire Lord is banish the lot of them.

Then, Sozin's Comet. _After the end of the war-_

Her brother perks up. _The end of the war?_

Azula raises an eyebrow. _When the comet arrives, we __**win**__. The only question is __**how**__ we win._

Zuko volunteers to draft battle plans.

Odd.

* * *

><p><strong>xi<strong>.

Azula is a people person. She always knows what her enemy will do, what choices he will make, what actions will result. _Always_.

But sometimes she misses the _why_.

This doesn't trouble her. After all, the _why_ is almost always irrelevant. If an Earthbender throws a rock at you, it does not matter if he is sad or angry. The rock gets thrown.

If an enemy makes decisions based on _feelings_, it is only important in that it marks that enemy as weak.

Azula recognizes fear. It makes no difference that she does not see other emotions. They are pointless.

* * *

><p><strong>xii<strong>.

Azula corrects Zuko's plans as they're made. She ignores his dirty looks.

She has to admit (grudgingly) that they're not bad. He makes mistakes, but her brother's got a decent eye for strategy. Perhaps he'll be useful in time; when she is Fire Lord and has banished all the Sages, she'll need a general she can trust.

She doesn't get why he's throwing himself at this project, but he is.

Then he refuses to accept one of her corrections, insisting the mistake is in fact a _feature_ of his idea.

And Azula decides to let him learn the hard way.

* * *

><p><strong>xiii<strong>.

What was she supposed to do while her brother was gone?

No mother. No uncle. No cousin. And then no Zuko.

She trained, of course. She produced lightning at twelve years old. She studied war philosophies and battle plans alike. She spoke for the Nation. She made her father proud.

Big deal. So she ran circles around everyone else in the country. None of them were of royal blood.

Her _brother_ was her equal by birth - defeating _him_ meant something. And she _always_ defeated him... but unlike with everyone else, it never got old.

Without Zuko... she was _bored_.

* * *

><p><strong>xiv<strong>.

Zuko's plan for Sozin's Comet is short, simple, and ruthless.

_Forget about occupying strongholds. As long as Ba Sing Se and Omashu stand, the people of the Earth Kingdom will continue to band together and rebel. We must leave them with nothing to retake._

He recommends using the Comet's power to burn the cities to ash.

Father smiles.

In the next step that the plan falls apart, as Azula knew it would.

General Shu: _And what of the Water Tribes?_

Zuko: _We leave them alone. They've only ever stayed in their ice fortresses. They're not a threat._

Father's smile vanishes.

* * *

><p><strong>xv<strong>.

Azula has always been disappointed that Zuko is unworthy of respect.

He tries, the poor thing, but he fights when he should scheme and surrenders when he should fight. With enough application to the right pressure point, he crumbles.

He's impulsive. He never thinks ahead. He lets his emotions control him, no matter whether those emotions are anger, grief, or longing. It is what makes him vulnerable... just like their mother.

No Prince of the Fire Nation should be so predictable and easy to manipulate.

It is for the good of the country, really, that Azula will be Fire Lord.

* * *

><p><strong>xvi<strong>.

She rolls her eyes as he digs deeper.

_Leaving the Water Tribes is good for **us**. The people of the Earth Kingdom won't fight as hard if they see we can be merciful._

Confusion. _What people?_

_The refugees. After Ba Sing Se and Omashu are evacuated-_

_You want them to **evacuate** first?_

_Well... yes. The plan isn't to **kill**, only to scatter._

The generals begin to laugh.

Zuko turns red._ We have so much to __**offer**__ the other nations._ _We'll bring them technology, and schools, and medicine, and in time... they won't __**hate**__ us anymore-_

More laughter.

Azula groans inwardly.

* * *

><p><strong>xvii<strong>.

She should have just roasted the Waterbender in Ba Sing Se.

She knew what Zuko wanted when he looked at the peasant, even if _he_ didn't, so she had ordered the girl's tea doctored. They didn't need some half-blood brat running around with a claim to the throne just because her brother wasn't thinking with his upstairs head.

And Zuko - being a sentimental moron - clearly started having romantic illusions about it all.

In fact, her brother spent so much time with the Waterbender that he never even came to talk to his own sister.

Not that Azula cared.

* * *

><p><strong>xviii<strong>.

Father orders Zuko to remain behind in the war room.

Azula waits. When her brother emerges he's white as a ghost - except, of course, for the scarlet mark across his face. He doesn't have a new one to match, though._ I __**told**__ you it wouldn't work._

Silence.

_If you'd paid attention to the histories, you'd understand. You must crush your enemy so completely that their grandchildren's grandchildren will tremble at the thought of resisting you. **Fear** is the key to victory._

No response.

She sighs. _C'mon, dum-dum. Let's go throw rocks at turtle ducks._

_Azula... I was wrong._

_**Obviously**_.

* * *

><p><strong>xix<strong>.

The only person Azula trusts implicitly is her brother.

Zuko doesn't have a deceptive bone in his body. He's the worst liar in the world. He says everything he thinks the moment he thinks it. And what he wants is always written on his sleeve.

Zuko will never stab her in the back. Even if he tried, she'd know before he reached for a knife.

It's sad, honestly. Zuko needs protecting from someone much, much smarter than himself. And as long as he doesn't stand in her way, that person will be Azula.

Zuko is just too useful to sacrifice.

* * *

><p><strong>xx<strong>.

He disappears two days later.

Azula is surprised that Father is surprised. Perhaps Father is not as clever as he used to be.

_I should not have allowed Prince Zuko leniency. I should not have permitted his mother such freedom with him._

It is the first time Azula has heard the Fire Lord admit to a mistake.

_I stand by my original assessment: Prince Zuko is not a traitor. He is just confused... and his confusion can be cured._

Father says: _What do you propose?_

Azula says: _There is a particular Waterbender who has to die._

And Mother said: _Monster._


	3. I Don't Have a Clue

_**NOTICE**: This sucker is written by **Like A Dove**, as a favor to myself: first, because she can get in Zuko's head whereas I find it a terrifying place to be, way worse than Azula, and two, because I've written four or five outtakes for her over the years and it was time for her to fanfic my fanfic!_

_I Don't Have a Clue isn't new; Like A Dove posted it on her profile a few weeks ago. I'm moving it here with her permission to streamline things, now that Sparrowkeet has an actual universe. So if this looks familiar, that's why. Sorry to get your hopes up for an update ;)_

_Many, many thanks again to Like A Dove, not only for writing this but for dragging me into Avatar in the first place. (And by "Drag" I mean "Mention Zutara" then "Egg me on as I streamlined the entire series in a week" and "Mention multiple times how nice it would be if you were to write fic, I mean, come on..."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>I Don't Have a Clue<em>**  
><em>(written by Like A Dove)<em>

* * *

><p>Zuko likes Katara's cooking.<p>

It's basic and hearty, but it has flavor, which he appreciates. It's not really what he's used to, but then, he's not used to anything about this situation.

Zuko also thinks he might like Katara's cooking because he likes _her_.

Well, that's not true.

Zuko _loves _her.

She's the reason why he's here, although he would never say so, because saying so out loud would mean that he technically lied to her when he first arrived.

"_Why are you here?" she asks, sliding a small step back when he reaches out to touch her._

_He had been afraid of that, but he couldn't say he was surprised._

_She appraised him with a raised eyebrow, arms crossed over her chest, waiting for him to speak._

_He sits down on the edge of his bed and gives her the answer she wants to hear._

"_I'm here to teach the Avatar how to firebend and help bring peace to the Nations and set things right."_

_It's not a lie, it's just not necessarily the truth._

_She nods slowly, looking relieved and…and something else. "That's all?"_

"_That's all." He turns away from her because he doesn't think he can deal with not being able to touch her. But he can't help but peek at her out of the corner of his eye._

_He's surprised to see that she looks slightly disappointed._

Katara is eating her own meal slowly, and occasionally she looks up at all the other kids sitting around the campfire to make sure that everyone is eating.

He takes the moment to watch her.

She's stopped wearing her hair in a braid. It's loose now, except for the two strands she pulls back away from her face, and it hangs loose around her shoulders in pretty waves.

He wants to run his fingers through it.

Her face is thinner then how he remembers it from the beginning, when she was just a silly girl protecting the highly sought after Avatar. Part of it is the loss of baby fat, the other is the malnutrition from spending months traveling and missing regular meals.

He doesn't care. He wants to kiss her cheek, her temple, the tip of her nose, her jaw, and her neck.

Her clothes are lighter now and less bulky in order to accommodate the Fire Nation heat. The sleeves are short, exposing her arms, and there's a slit up the legs of her dress. Doesn't matter, of course, she wears leggings underneath. He suspects her under wrappings are the same as they were...before.

He wants her in nothing at all. He just wants to feel her skin against his.

His vision is suddenly filled with blue eyes, and he realizes after a beat that Katara has caught him watching her and is giving him the _look._

_Don't stare_, it means.

He reluctantly turns his gaze elsewhere and starts to eat his food again.

As everyone around him is finishing their meal the conversation starts to pick up.

Zuko listens in. It's a distraction.

Toph is explaining to the Avatar the benefits of toe-picking. The Avatar is listening with rapt attention, as if this is life changing information, all the while shoving fruit into his mouth. The other earthbender, Haru, joins in on occasion.

Zuko sighs. _Earthbenders._

Teo, the Duke and Pipsqueak are talking about bombs. Not surprising.

Sokka and Suki are cuddling. And kissing. And groping. They're one of _those _couples. Zuko can't help but seethe with jealousy whenever he looks at them. They're _normal_. Neither of them ever hated the other.

"Sokka, Suki, could you two cut it out? I'm trying to eat."

Everyone's conversation freezes at Katara's irritated outburst.

Sokka rolls his eyes and if anything pulls Suki closer to him. "Don't cramp our style, Katara."

Katara's eyes narrow into slits. She must be feeling especially vicious tonight. "I'm not trying to _cramp your style_, Sokka, but I would like to not throw up."

Everyone around the campfire except for Zuko starts backing away. When Katara is angry things have the tendency to get frozen.

Sokka is giving his younger sister a pitying look. "If you had your significant other with you tonight you'd be doing the exact same thing."

The hopeful look the Avatar casts in Katara's direction doesn't go unnoticed by Zuko.

It does by the waterbender, however.

"No," she seethes, "I wouldn't because it's _rude._ You can do that privately."

"So if Jet was here you wouldn't be cuddling? I _know _you had a thing for him. Not that I approve—"

"Wait, what?"

Zuko stiffens when everyone's gaze settles on him. He gulps. He'd like to think he didn't hear what he thought he heard…

Sokka is already shaking his head and leaning forward, already into his explanation. "When we were with Jet and his Freedom Fighters for a couple of days it was _obvious _that she had a crush on the psycho, despite the fact that her extremely wise and knowledgeable older brother _warned her_—"

"_Shut up,_ Sokka!" Katara is looking back and forth between her brother and Zuko with a mortified expression on her face.

"Jet is the ex you talked about?" Zuko asks her softly, and even in the firelight he can see all the blood draining from her face. Sokka is suddenly casting suspicious looks in his sister's direction. Zuko hooked his finger in demonstration. "Fought with hooks? Chews grass? Overall a piece of shit?"

There's a collective gasp around the campfire. Zuko sighs, already knowing he's said something wrong.

Katara looks at him with wide, horrified eyes. "You knew Jet?"

Zuko nods. "Mhmm."

"Yeah well, he's dead now," Toph offers, and the Avatar looks scandalized at her nonchalance.

Zuko blinks. That's right. Katara had mentioned that her ex (her _first_) was gone.

Oh. What a pity.

Something twists in his gut. Something foul and rotten, and he knows that if he opens his mouth that fire will come out.

_Fucking Jet?_

_**Really?**_

Jet had seen Katara (_his _Katara) naked.

Zuko decides that Jet should be thankful that he is already dead.

Because his slow, agonizing death by Zuko's hands would have been fairly unpleasant.

Zuko sets his half empty bowl of food back on the ground and starts to push himself to his feet. He glances in Katara's direction, and she looks panicky as she stares up at him. As though maybe she didn't want him to know.

He wants to kick over his bowl of food, stomp on things, and pout.

He refrains.

"Oh, are you done with that? I'll just finish that for you." And then Toph is snatching up his remaining dinner and shoveling his food into her mouth, all the while smirking.

The blind earthbender knows. Zuko has no idea how she knows, but she knows. Amazing, how she can't physically see and yet is the most observant one out of the entire group.

Zuko grunts before turning around and walking away, towards his room.

"What's his problem?" he hears Sokka say, followed by a swift, "OW! What was that for?"

"Learn to keep your mouth shut," Katara says.

* * *

><p>Everything is tinged red and Zuko's chest is heaving.<p>

He wants to hit something. He wants to kick something. He wants to kill something. Mainly Jet, although someone has beat him to the punch. He'd settle for Sokka, though. Idiot.

Zuko's skin feels unbearably hot as he paces around his room, hands fisted in his own hair.

With a shout of rage he shoves his hand forward and fire streams from his fist, powerful and unwavering.

He immediately feels better. Setting things on fire always did the trick.

Zuko pauses. _Setting things on fire…_

Zuko's room is now on fire.

"_Shit!_"

He rips the blanket off of his bed, attempting not to panic as he throws it over the flames that are now consuming the left side of his room.

If he burns down the Western Air Temple he's pretty sure the Avatar won't let him stay anymore.

Using his bending he forces the flames to lower until they are barely nothing and can be easily put out by his now scorched blanket. He throws it back onto his bed after the fire has been extinguished and groans.

"Are you okay?"

He whirls around to see Katara standing in his doorway, waving her hand in front of her face in an attempt to disperse some of the smoke.

"I'm fine," he says through his teeth, although he can only imagine what this whole scene looks like. He's just set his room on fire. On purpose.

She sighs and walks forward so that he can see her more clearly. She obviously doesn't believe him.

"Zuko… about Jet—"

"No, no. It's fine. I'm fine. I mean, it's not like it's my business or anything, who you were with before me, so it totally doesn't matter at all that it's Jet."

Stupid motherfucker.

Katara looks somewhat ashamed. "It was a while ago, only a couple of weeks after I found Aang—"

"I said I was fine, Katara. You don't owe me an explanation." His voice comes off harsher then he meant, and he takes a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. It doesn't really work.

He turns his back to her and stares at the picture of his uncle.

He really wishes he could have seen him before he left, could have told him that he's trying to do the right thing. Even if his motivations behind 'doing the right thing' were somewhat selfish, at least he was here. At least he was trying.

When he turns around she's gone.

* * *

><p>He lies on the bed and stares at the ceiling.<p>

It hurts that he feels this way about her. He wishes beyond anything that he didn't. Things would be better if he didn't, he thinks.

Things would be easier.

There's a flicker of blue in the corner of his eye, but he pretends not to notice her. It's probably what she wants.

He gives it a moment before sitting up and looking at his now empty doorframe.

She's left him a new blanket.

He gets it and brings it back to his bed. It must have been one of Katara's because it distinctly smells like her. He wraps it around himself and inhales, his body relaxing under her scent.

He sleeps soundly that night despite himself.

* * *

><p>Zuko is not fond of the Avatar.<p>

That is the polite way to put it.

He does not want to be a downer, but if this small, annoying little boy actually defeats the Fire Lord then Zuko will eat his own toes.

Because at this rate the Avatar is going to be fried.

Also, the Avatar very obviously has a crush on Katara (_his _Katara), which is just flat out unacceptable. The Avatar is twelve and Katara is fifteen.

Well, no one can tell the Avatar that he isn't an optimist.

This morning's training session has been anything but successful. The Avatar is talented, sure, but his head isn't in it today. Zuko doesn't have the time nor the patience to play games.

He can feel the sweat on his back, on his neck, and on his forehead. He doesn't bother to wipe it off, but keeps correcting the Avatar's stance, the sweep of his arms, and the angle of his kicks.

He finally stops when the sweat is visibly lifted up and away from his and the Avatar's bodies.

He hadn't even noticed her watching the two of them.

"I brought you both drinks," she calls out softly, holding up two goblets.

The Avatar zooms over to her gleefully before thanking her and taking his drink. She gives him a smile, more maternal than anything else, before turning her head in Zuko's direction.

The smile fades from her face as her eyes rake over his exposed upper body. Something starts to burn in those blue eyes of hers, causing his heart to hammer and his palms to feel clammy.

Then she stiffens, turns away from him and starts up a meaningless conversation with the Avatar.

Zuko deflates. This is so fucking _unfair._

He marches away, not bothering to look back when the Avatar calls after him.

She'll talk to the Avatar. She'll moon over him and praise him like he's the Spirits gift to mankind (which he technically is but fucking whatever). She mourns Jet (he _knows _she does), and it kills him inside to know that at one point in time she cared enough about him to—

He wonders what he, _Zuko_, means to her, if he even means anything at all.

He wishes she would just tell him what he's doing wrong so that he could fix it. But hasn't he already started to fix things? Isn't he _trying? _Does she even _care?_

He finds one of the multitude of fountains at the Western Air Temple and sits on the edge of it, fuming.

Zuko hates everything.

Then he sighs, because even that's not true.

He's not sure how long he stares at his shoes and broods, but he doesn't look up at Katara when she sits down next to him.

"He had rough hands."

Zuko blinks, furrows his eyebrows before turning his head in her direction.

She's looking right at him, eyes wide and searching, with her hands gripping her knees.

Zuko straightens up a little bit. "Who?"

She has to look up at him now. "Jet. He had rough hands. That's what I remember."

It is only natural that Zuko flips over his own hands and studies them. They're rough as well, from constant work with his bending and swordplay.

"I do too."

"Yes," she agrees, reaching over and tracing soft fingertips against his palms. He shudders. "But I remember a lot more about you then just the feel of your hands."

Zuko sometimes forgets that Katara can be just as soothing as her element.

He closes his hand over hers and she doesn't pull away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Hope everyone enjoyed! I've owed audreyii_fic this **_**forever**_**, seriously! Hope you love it, darlin'! :D**

_I did :)_**  
><strong>


	4. Of Edged Weapons and Eavesdropping

**_A/N_**_: Very short, semi-sweet, and totally random. This scene kept distracting me while I was TRYING to work on something bigger. Now I'm returning to the intended (much longer and far less sweet) Sokka backstory._

_This takes place just before the Battle of Sozin's Comet._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Of Edged Weapons and Eavesdropping<em>**

* * *

><p>Suki does not intend to sneak up on people. Her light footfalls are from years of intensive training; one does not become a Kyoshi Warrior by bumbling about and clattering into things. Suki can move silently at great distances, climb a tree without shaking a single branch, cross a beach without disturbing a grain of sand.<p>

Overhearing conversations just kind of happens.

"Here." Zuko. "Take this with you tomorrow."

"...a knife?" Katara. "What am I going to do with a knife?"

"Stab people. That's what knives are for."

Suki stood in the wall-less hallway, concealed by shadows. It was too dark to see the faces of who was speaking, though their voices were instantly recognizable. Their soft words carried clearly from the other side of the courtyard - the Fire Lord's house on Ember Island played funny tricks with noises.

She'd just meant to head for the bathroom (okay, and maybe burn off some nervous energy by climbing the rock wall), but given the givens, she decided it might be best to stay put for the time being. Suki _never_ got caught when she wished to be silent... but she didn't want to test her skills on Zuko, who was nearly as good as her at sneaking, and could very well notice if he was being snuck up _on_. Suki did not wish to get roasted on the eve of the greatest battle of her life.

Also, given what they all now knew about Zuko and Katara, Suki was more than a little curious about what was going on. (She couldn't help it, being the primary audience of Sokka's hourly rants on the subject.)

So, yes, she eavesdropped. Sue her.

"Zuko, I don't know if you noticed, but I _bend water_. Ice blades, remember?"

"What if you run into Ty Lee?"

"This won't help. I don't know how to _use_ a knife."

"You chop vegetables for dinner, don't you? It's not that complicated."

(Suki suppressed a groan at this. Knife fighting was _extremely_ complicated and required _years_ of training to master. Only idiots thought otherwise... but that could have just been Kyoshi snobbery talking.)

"But I-"

"I'm not asking you to get into a throwing competition with Mai. It's a _backup_. I thought you _liked _being prepared."

"Okay, fine." Suki heard the crisp scrape of a blade being unsheathed. "'Made in Earth Kingdom.'"

A sigh. "It's engraved on the other side, too."

"Oh. 'Never Give Up Without A Fight.' That's nice. Where did you get it?"

"From Uncle. It, uh, belongs to an Earth Kingdom kid named Lee. Kind of. If you ever run into him, tell him to take it."

"An Earth Kingdom kid named Lee." Katara's voice was dry. "I don't supposed you could tell me _which_ Earth Kingdom kid named Lee."

"Um... he was short. And he's missing his front teeth... but they've probably grown in by now."

"...thanks. That'll help a _lot_."

A snort, followed by the smell of smoke.

Several minutes passed. Suki was just beginning to wonder if it was safe to move onward (she really _did_ need to go to the bathroom) when there was a sound of feet kicking a stone step and the conversation resumed. "Are you taking your broadswords tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"How come you use them?"

A long silence, followed by a clearly reluctant, "Because I'm not a very good bender."

Katara's sputtering laugh was (luckily) louder than Suki's noise of surprise. "That's ridiculous."

"No, it's not. I didn't show any signs until I was seven. My training went terribly for years." The words were all low and embarrassed.

A pause, then: "Well... okay, so what if you weren't too good at first?" Katara's voice took on a stubborn edge, the one she got whenever someone in her family had been insulted. "It doesn't matter. You're great _now_."

"That's only because of Uncle. While we were in exhile he taught me four or five hours a day, _every_ day, until I finally mastered the basics. It went faster after that, at least." A dry laugh. "And I didn't _really _get good until you and I started fighting."

"Glad to be of service." There was a soft shuffle of weight shifting. "But I don't get what that has to do with your swords."

"Weapons... they're for non-benders and peasants. Needing them is a mark of shame. But I read the scrolls and practiced and I thought, if I could do this right, then at least... I wanted to be good at _something_."

Suki's curiosity had long been overwhelmed by a desire to get away. The conversation was private. But at this point you could hear a pin drop; moving was too risky.

"For what it's worth," said Katara finally, "I think knowing both bending and swordplay is amazing."

"...really?"

"Yeah. I wish _I_ could do more than one thing. If I steal Sokka's space sword, will you teach me a few moves?"

(Suki gulped at the thought of anyone touching Sokka's space sword. Even _she_ wasn't allowed to touch Sokka's space sword - though he encouraged her to touch everything else.)

"Let's live through tomorrow first." In spite of the sarcastic words, Zuko's tone wasn't biting. "Then we'll see."

"Okay." Everything was quiet for a few minutes, until Katara said, "Dawn's only a few hours away. We need to go to bed."

Suki drew further back into the shadows as Zuko whispered, "We?"

A beat. "I'm going to _my_ bed and _I_ am going to sleep," Katara clarified pointedly. "You should go to _your_ bed and do the same."

"Right. I knew that."

"Good. Thank you for the knife. Good night, Zuko."

"Good night, Katara."

Soft footsteps from two people headed in opposite directions, then-

"I love you," said a sad voice.

A long, long silence.

"Let's live through tomorrow first," said an equally sad voice. "Then we'll see."

After Suki heard the doors sliding shut, she exhaled with relief and padded down the hall. Her steps were completely silent, but unfortunately, that didn't make a difference.

"It's not nice to listen in on private conversations, Honey."

She paused long enough to glare at Toph's closed room. "_You_ do it all the time," she hissed.

"Yeah, but I'm already not nice, so it's okay."

Suki shook her head, _finally _made it to the bathroom, then spent the remaining hours until dawn climbing the rock wall and being glad her relationship with Sokka was simple.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN_**_: If you're curious about how the Gaang found out about Zuko and Katara... yeah, we'll get there sooner or later ;)_


	5. Heartbeats

_**A/N**: Another short one. Oh well. That's life._

_This takes place when our self-exiled Fire Prince arrives at the Western Air Temple._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Heartbeats<strong>  
>(or, Wherein Toph is Smarter and Generally More Awesome Than Everyone Else)<em>

* * *

><p>The cool evening air is blowing in off the canyon when she feels it. "There's someone coming," Toph says quietly.<p>

Conversation halts. "Who?" says Aang, his tone worried. "How could anyone know we're here? If we've been found then it will-"

"Shut up and let me listen," she snaps (and then hears Katara's cluck of indignation at her bad manners). She concentrates, feeling the reverberations of the footfalls coming their direction.

Haru and the others are exploring the Temple, and Toph knows their gaits by now; not them. Sokka, Katara, and Aang are here around the campfire; not them. Suki is off doing Kyoshi exercises, and her steps are light; not her. Iroh and Hakoda are the only others who know where they are, supposedly, but their bodies are heavier and slower; not them.

These feet are solid but inaudible, and the heartbeat above them is doing double-time.

"It's a stranger," Toph says, "and he's antsy."

Several months ago, words like that would have led to scrambling; now, everyone just quietly stands. The scrape of Sokka's Space Sword being unsheathed is familiar, as is the clink of Katara's waterskin uncorking. Aang's airbending makes no noise, but then, it usually doesn't.

Toph herself squares her stance and feels the stones around her, ready to crush the intruder at a moment's notice, and absorbs the _step step step_ of his or her approach.

Thirty paces. Twenty paces. Coming around from behind the pillar...

"_You!_" shouts Aang, and there's thundering in the earth as Twinkletoes runs toward the stranger. As she hears the _whoosh_ of a Firebender conjuring flames from thin air, Toph knows shit's about to go down.

"No! No, Aang, wait! Don't!"

Sometimes Toph has a little trouble following what's going on. Not much, given that she's blind, but a little. Things that occur in mid-air are a problem - which is where most of waterbending happens. Still, though, a _sploosh_ is pretty easy to comprehend, especially when it's followed by a certain Avatar sputtering.

There's a long moment of obviously surprised silence, then a soft, rasping: "Hi, Katara."

Oh. Toph only heard him once, shouting at them all in a deserted street, but she never forgets a voice. It's Gramps' nephew, Zuko.

She relaxes. Anyone okay by Gramps is okay by her. (While she would never, ever admit it out loud, Toph takes Iroh's word as gospel. He made her tea because he wanted to, not because he thought she couldn't do it herself.)

No one else calms down, though. "Katara, let me go!" (Twinkletoes must be frozen to the ground.) "I can handle him!"

"That's not a good-"

"_He took you away!_"

"It's _complicated-_"

"How did he find us?" Sokka shouts. "He could be bringing others!"

"Why don't we _ask_ instead of _attacking?_" Katara shouts right back. "Zuko, how did you find us?"

"I hunted everywhere." There's still crackling in the air. Obviously Sparky hasn't put down his fireball yet. Toph considers doing something about that - a well-placed stalagmite under his butt oughta get the job done - but this is all just a little too odd to interfere with yet. Besides, he might be on fire, but the guy's vital signs tell her he's close to a nervous breakdown. "And it's just me. No one else is coming."

_Iiiiiiii_nteresting.

"Well, that's just great," Sokka says, his politeness entirely sarcastic. "I absolutely believe that the Prince of the Fire Nation, who was rather deeply involved in the kidnapping of my one-and-only little sister-"

"War prisoner," Zuko mutters.

"-is just stopping by our secret camp for no reason when he _should_ be off torturing moose-lion cubs or pulling the wings off glow flies."

An exasperated huff that belongs exclusively to Katara. "Why doesn't anyone _listen_ to me? I _told_ you, that's not..." She trails off, and her heart rate - already beating only a little slower than Sparky's - speeds up to jackalope levels. Softer, she says, "Zuko, I _told_ them that's not how it is."

Toph's sightless eyes widen. Whoa. If Zuko's breathing gets any faster he's gonna hit the floor like a ton of bricks. "You told them..."

"How you helped me escape." Katara's tone is pointed, and her weight shifts, sending little tremors through the floor. "How you stopped Azula from killing me, and got me out of the prison hold. That's what I told them. That's what happened, right?"

"...yeah," says Zuko slowly. "That's what happened."

They're both lying through their teeth. _Veeeeeeeery _interesting.

"But you wouldn't have been captured in the _first place_ if he hadn't fought us in Ba Sing Se!" Aang bellows. There are weird, choppy little vibrations all around his body - yep, Twinkletoes is frozen in ice. If he was thinking straight he'd be getting himself out, no trouble, but no one ever said the Avatar was the sharpest sword in the armory. "It's _all his fault you were gone!_"

"Aang, if anyone's going to yell at the two-faced rat, it's _me_. I've got Big Brother rights, so get in the back of the line." Sokka's voice hardens, and there's just enough of a shift in his stance for Toph to know he's raising the Space Sword. "What are you doing here, Zuko?"

A long pause, then a sigh. The crackling disappears; Sparky's put out his flames. "I'm here to help."

"Yeah, _right_."

"_We don't need your help!_"

"You don't, huh? Do you know what the Fire Lord is going to do when Sozin's Comet arrives?" There's a rustle. "_I _do."

"Wait, are those battle plans?" Sokka asks eagerly. Snoozles is easily won over by scrolls, maps, and other things on paper.

"Straight from the Palace's war room."

Sokka lets out a tiny squeal.

"And you, Avatar," Zuko says, "have you mastered firebending yet? You have to learn somehow."

"Sifu Iroh was a really good instructor," Twinkletoes grumbles. "I don't need _you_ to teach me."

"Yeah, he does," Toph interjects cheerfully. "He stinks."

"Do not!"

"Aang, you kind of do," says Sokka. "You keep setting your clothes on fire. And remember when you singed Momo's ear?"

"He _burned Momo?_" Katara gasps.

"It was an accident!"

There's angry chattering from the lemur in question.

"Well," says Zuko, dripping acid, "I'm convinced. Obviously you don't need any of my assistance."

"And you're so eager to offer your _assistance_ all of the sudden _why_?" Another shift from Sokka. He hasn't lowered the Space Sword. (Sometimes Toph suspects the Space Sword might be compensating for something, and when she thinks too hard about that she bursts out laughing at totally random times.) "Because the thing is - and correct me if I'm wrong - you're an angry jerk who hates us and keeps trying to capture the Avatar."

"And who _kidnapped Katara!_" (Not that there's a possessive note in Aang's voice or anything. Toph manages not to roll her eyes. She likes Twinkletoes, really she does, but he's barking up the wrong tree with that one.)

"_I didn't kidnap her!_" Zuko shouts, and there's sudden heat and another _whoosh_ of fire. _"She was a prisoner of war! There's a difference!"_

Katara is conspicuously silent.

"Tell us what's in it for you," Toph asks bluntly. Honestly, no one else knows how to get to the point around here. They'd be lost without her.

"Yes," Katara says. Her voice is calm, but it's got iron in it. "Tell us."

Sparky's heart thuds in Toph's feet. "I'm here for the Fire Nation," he says finally.

"Well, that's not exactly the answer we were looking for." Sokka's tone is hard now too. "Not sure if you noticed, but we're _fighting _the Fire Nation, so if you're gonna-"

"No, you're fighting _Ozai_."

"Same thing."

"It's _not_ the same thing." Zuko starts to pace restlessly, his steps still surprisingly light. This is a guy who knows how to sneak. "My country is full of good people-"

Disbelieving noises.

"-and ending the war good for _everyone_. It's not the citizens' fault that this has gone on so long, it's my father's, and my grandfather's... but I could stop it, you understand? I could _stop the war_, Katara, and then things would be... different."

Sugar Queen's breathing pauses before she says, "You want to be Fire Lord."

"It's the only solution."

A snort from Sokka. "You know, somehow, I'm not entirely sold on that idea." But there's a scrape; he's sheathed the Space Sword. "I have this vague recollection of being chased from one pole to another by some creep determined to help the Fire Nation take over the world. You want to tell us what's up with the one-eighty?"

"It doesn't matter why." Katara's interjection is just a little too quick. "Zuko will be a better leader than Ozai or Azula, and _someone _has to be Fire Lord."

"Why?" Sokka counters. "I don't see why the Earth King can't just-"

Even from ten feet away Toph can _feel_ Sparky's body temperature rising, and Katara snaps, "That's not how it works. Aang's going to restore _balance_, and that means _all four nations._ Right, Aang?"

"Right," Aang says reluctantly. Toph hears him take a deep breath, and then there's a _drip drip drip _as the ice around him dissolves into water. "But there has to be someone else. What about Sifu Iroh?"

Toph snorts at this. "Trust me, Gramps doesn't want to rule. He's got plans for his tea house." (Toph is going to use the Bei Fong fortune to back his business, just as soon as she figures out how to get her parents to cough up the coins.)

"Is he here?" Zuko's voice is eager.

"Nope. He's off with Sugar Queen and Snoozles' dad, doing Very Important and Secret Things to prepare for the war." (It is a point of serious annoyance for Toph that she wasn't able to figure out what those Secret Things were before Iroh and Hakoda left. Somehow they always knew when she was trying to listen in.)

The disappointment off of Sparky is a physical thing. "Oh."

"He told us you'd show up sooner or later, though," Toph says.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he did." Sokka sounds reluctant, but he's thinking it over, Toph can tell. "And Sifu Iroh's turned out to be right about a lot of things."

There's a long moment of silence as everyone contemplates this.

"Well, _I _think it's a good idea," Toph says flatly. "Twinkletoes has to learn the next level of firebending from somewhere, and we can't exactly go knocking on doors all over the Fire Nation, can we."

"I don't need firebending." Aang's obviously speaking through gritted teeth. "I didn't even _want_ to firebend."

"Too bad," Zuko snarls. "You're the Avatar." He says _Avatar_ the same way Toph says _sea slugs_.

There's a little hiss, like Aang's calling a wind towards himself. "_You hurt Katara. _I won't learn from you."

Sparky stops breathing and his heart rate increases at the same time. Now _that's_ just weird.

"You don't have to like me," says Zuko after a moment. It's pretty impressive, how cold his voice can be when all his body signals say he's barely holding his temper. "I don't like _you_. But there's no other way. My father's going to do _terrible things _unless the Avatar stops him... and I think it's my destiny to make sure you know how. I think... maybe that's how I'm supposed to get my honor back."

"Your father didn't return it?" Toph's not sure how anyone (other than herself) can hear Katara speak. Her voice isn't any louder than the snapping of the campfire.

But apparently Zuko hears her, because he says just as quietly, "I don't want the honor my father's offering. Not anymore."

Toph frowns. What is this, with the two of them? This is... _something. _It tickles right at the edge of her senses. But Katara never said anything about she and Zuko even getting along while she was held captive, let alone...

No. Way.

"I'll be a good Fire Lord, Katara." Zuko's heart is pounding so hard Toph can't believe no one else feels it. "I promise. I'll be the Fire Lord my uncle should have been. My father, my sister, the generals... that's not what I am. That's not how it has to be. The Fire Nation can be better than that. I can change it. You know me."

No. _Way._

"Is he telling the truth, Toph?" Sokka's a pragmatist, and there's no emotion one way or another in his question.

Toph could answer _volumes_ on that, but she settles for, "Yeah. More or less."

Sugar Queen's feet move anxiously.

Sokka makes a clicking noise with his tongue. "Katara?"

"I believe him," she says. "Besides, he's a terrible liar."

Okay, seriously, _someone_ else has to be seeing this. It can't just be Toph picking up on it, right? Is everyone around here _really _that dumb?

"Fine. If Toph and Katara both trust you, then I'm okay with it. But you're on probation, pal - step one foot out of line, and you're gettin' my Space Sword in your face." There's a reverberating thunk through the stone as Sokka drops down by the fire. "Is it time to get these potatoes out of the coals? I'm starving."

A harsh noise. Twinkletoes is grinding his jaw. Toph is reminded of when he first woke up from his injuries, how he called for Katara and they'd had to tell him she was gone. He'd nearly destroyed the entire North Pole in his rage.

"Aang," Katara says gently.

"He _took you away from me_."

Zuko's breathing and heartbeat leaps to the rafters at that, but there's nothing from Katara. Toph _does _roll her eyes this time. It's taken Sparky all of ten minutes to see how Aang feels; Sugar Queen still hasn't picked up on it. Katara is the most oblivious person on the planet about these things.

"Yes, he did." Katara's voice is firmer now. "But that's _my_ problem."

"I can't-"

"You have to learn firebending. I know it's hard-"

"_How can you trust him?_" cries the Avatar. "I was there, I saw how he turned on us, and then you were _gone!_ How can you just _forgive_him for that?"

"I _haven't_."

Everything inside Sparky comes screeching to a stop.

_Wow._

"There's no other way, Aang. You have to do this. Please. For me."

Those are the magic words. He sighs, and Toph would bet her sole-less shoes that he nods reluctantly.

"C'mon, Twinkletoes," she says, walking forward and grabbing Aang by the arm. "Let's go bust up some mountains. You'll feel better in a jiff. Snoozles, don't eat all the food while we're gone."

"No promises," he says. "Hey, angry jerk, what're you doing with my sister's necklace?"

Two heartbeats spiking. "I, uh-"

"I forgot it on the ship."

"Yeah, yeah, you did. Um, here, you should have-"

"_No_- I mean, you keep- it's not- I don't want it."

"But it's _yours_, Katara," says Sokka, sounding totally confused.

"I just _don't want him to give me a necklace, all right?_"

"Jeez, fine, whatever. Yeesh." Sokka humphs. "Don't know what's gotten into you all of the sudden."

Toph starts to laugh, and doesn't stop for a _long_ time.


	6. The Teachings of Tea

_**A/N**: Okay, yeah, no Zuko or Katara in this one, but sometimes shit happens when they're not present. Silly narrative._

_As a point of note, with regards to Aang - when working on this (and conceptualizing the rest of the SK!universe), I usually draw on how he took the loss of Appa in S2. Somehow, I don't think he'd react much better to the loss of his forever girl._

_This takes place more or less concurrently with Sparrowkeet._

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>The Teachings of Tea<span>_**

_Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.**  
>-Buddha<strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>The First<strong>

It was altogether unsurprising that Chief Arnook was _less than enthusiastic_ about the idea of the Dragon of the West teaching firebending within the city of the Water Tribe. He had in fact been prepared to boot the lot of them from the North Pole for even suggesting such a thing. But eventually Arnook had at least been persuaded to the importance of the recently-recovered Avatar learning _all_ forms of bending if the war was to end, and so reluctantly consented to the training lessons... five miles out into the tundra.

The Avatar had bent a large, clear circle into the snow; though they are surrounded by ten foot walls of ice on every side, their feet only sink a half inch into light powder. The ice keeps out the wind and there is nothing that can burn. All in all, it is not a terrible place to practice.

But it is _cold_.

"After this, Aang, I believe you and I should have a cup of tea," says Iroh, knocking icicles from his beard. "You will like oolong, I think."

"Yes, Sifu," the Airbender mutters.

"Excellent. Now, tell me: How much did Master Jeong Jeong teach you?"

The boy sighs, then squares his feet and bends his knees. He takes several deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth... and stands straight again. "That was about it," he says crossly.

This is going to take a lot of work. "Good form," says Iroh, "but widen your stance."

The Last Great Hope for the World rolls his eyes and groans, but he spreads his feet further apart and crouches lower.

"Good. Did you do any actual bending?"

"Yes."

"Can you show me?"

Aang looks away. "I don't see _why_ I have to learn this," he says instead of answering. "I mean, on the Day of Black Sun there won't even _be_ any firebending! I know how to airbend, and Toph taught me earthbending, and Ka- Katara..."

The boy's large eyes swim, and he gulps several times, clearly unable to continue.

"The dragonhawk who can only fly will starve," says Iroh, "and the dragonhawk who can only bite will be captured. You must combine all your skills instead of separating them. They are greater than the sum of their parts." Then he adds gently, "I am sure it is what Katara would wish."

That is the wrong thing to say. "_What do you know about it?_" Multiple voices overlay Aang's words, and there is no doubt who and what the boy is. "_You didn't save her!_"

Iroh sees the little Waterbender flying through the air beneath Ba Sing Se. He sees her hit the glowing crystal stones and crumple to the floor. He sees her - and she blurs and fades and becomes a young woman with shining hair, pale and weak...

He shakes his head. "Feel your breath," he says. "The source of the flames is in your lungs."

"_I don't want to firebend!_" Sharp cracks sound as the ice shakes beneath their feet. "_Firebending only hurts people!_"

"You must be rooted at all times," Iroh continues, unperturbed. He has been shouted at by angry children before. "In that sense firebending is not so different from earthbending. You must feel the structure of your surroundings."

"_You should have rescued Katara!_"

"But at all times, you must have control." Iroh feels sorrow but no guilt. He would have escaped with both if he could have, but the little girl was too far away and the Avatar was injured. It was the right decision. "Without control, fires burn freely. I am sure Jeong Jeong told you this."

"_Fire destroys everything!_"

The Avatar is rooted, in the correct stance, and full of fury.

The spout of flame that accompanies Aang's shout melts a large hole in the ice wall. The water refreezes in the blink of an eye.

He claps his hands over his mouth.

"It's chilly out here, don't you think?" Iroh says jovially. "Let's put off our session until tomorrow and go get that cup of tea. I have a lovely blend called Iron Goddess, and I think it will suit you nicely."

On the ship (the Dragon of the West is not permitted to sleep within the city's walls, which suits said Dragon just fine, it's much warmer here), Aang watches as Iroh pours a full pot of tea out into the table. The Airbender's brow furrows. "Why did you do that?" he asks, speaking for the first time since they left the ice.

"Because," says Iroh, refilling the pot, "the first brew is only to wet the twisted leaves and cleanse them of loose particles. It is the _later _infusions that make the true, delicious tea."

Three cups later, Aang apologizes for his rudeness, and promises to try harder next time. Iroh offers him a cookie.

* * *

><p><strong>The Fourth<strong>

The Avatar catches on quick, quicker than Iroh anticipates. Perhaps it was from years of training Zuko, who'd needed to substitute determination and drive for raw talent, but Iroh had not prepared for a student who could race through the initial steps in less than a week.

In a way, it reminds Iroh of the one and only time he trained Princess Azula, who even at eight had possessed all the power of an erupting volcano. Azula smiled coldly as the roof burned, and in Iroh's memory the smile belonged on the face of a someone who towered over him and spoke with a twisted voice-

"Ack! _Sifu!_"

Aang has set his robes on fire again.

Iroh smothers the flames with a wave of his hand. "Next time that happens," he says to the boy, "waterbend. Otherwise you'll have no clothes left and you will get very cold."

"I'm trying," the Avatar says, patting at his singed hems, "but I can't just... _shift_ that fast."

"Do not think of it shifting. The elements are connected, Aang. They are all part of the same whole."

"That doesn't make any sense. Fire's the opposite of water."

"Think of Sozin's Comet," says Iroh. "When it will arrives, what will happen?"

The boy twists his fingers and toes at the ice, kicking a broken shard. "I'll fight the Fire Lord," he whispers, "if we haven't beaten him already."

"No. Well, yes, but no. What is the comet made of?"

"Fire."

"But it is much more than fire." Iroh gestures to the steel sky, as though the heavens are already in flames. "It is an enormous piece of earth, flying through the air as does your bison, and it pulls the oceans like a second moon."

"Really?"

"Yes. Sozin's Comet combines all elements, just as the Avatar does."

Aang's eyes are like saucers. "So... does that mean Earthbenders and Waterbenders will be stronger, too?"

Iroh shrugs. "I have absolutely no idea. It is not important."

There is a beat.

"_Of course it's important!_" The Avatar literally vibrates with frustration, throwing his arms up in the air and stomping his feet. "If _everyone_ is stronger, then the Fire Nation doesn't have an advantage! I'll be able to use _all_ the elements with extra power! This is _huge!_"

"Not that huge," says Iroh, "if you cannot firebend."

"But I _am_ firebending!" Flames erupt from Aang's hands, wild and uncontrolled; water splashes everywhere.

Iroh finds himself chuckling. "That is only fire _creation_, not fire _bending_. Not without discipline."

The flames die down. "Everyone always says that," Aang mumbles, his eyes filling with defeated tears.

It is in moments like this Iroh remembers why an Avatar is meant to be told of his or her destiny in adulthood, and then receives ten years to master the elements. This twelve-year-old has been given ten months. It is too much to ask of a boy.

"You are not the only student to have difficulty with discipline," Iroh says comfortingly. "When Zuko first tried to meditate-"

The Avatar sends a pillar of flames a hundred feet high.

Smoke mixes with the snow and flutters back to earth in ashy grey clumps.

"That reminds me," says Iroh after a moment, "I was going to ask the cook if he could make komodo chicken roast for dinner. I hope it's not too late."

Aang apologizes again at tea.

* * *

><p><strong>The Eighth<strong>

"I think I'm just not meant to firebend," the boy says morosely, pushing his cup away.

"You are the Avatar." Iroh sips his tea, a green blend from the south with a silky, fresh, slightly grassy taste. Before this terrible war, it was possible to import Earth Kingdom leaves into the Fire Nation. Perhaps it will one day be so again. "Of course you are meant to firebend."

"Then why do I keep getting it wrong?" Aang's clothes are full of soot and his glider is covered in scorch marks. If he had any hair it would have burned from his head. "None of the other elements went _this_ badly. Maybe my chakras are all plugged up again."

Iroh raises an eyebrow.

"It's a long story," says the Airbender.

"Don't worry too much about your chakras. These things simply take time."

"But I don't _have_ time!"

It's true, which is the worrisome part; the Day of Black Sun is creeping ever closer. But hitting the nail which is stuck is an excellent way to break the tile. "Drink your tea, Aang, it has a most relaxing flavor."

"Yes, Sifu." The boy slurps the way Iroh taught him to do with oolong, not realizing that green is meant to be sipped cleanly. After a moment, his shoulders slump. "I'm sorry, Master Iroh. I know you're right. I'm the Avatar, and that makes me a Firebender. I should have mastered it by now. I know I'm letting you down."

The fates of many rest on children. "You are letting _yourself_ down, and that is a much more difficult obstacle to overcome. You must accept that you will make mistakes. You must learn to forgive yourself with the same kindness you show to others."

With one notable exception.

Aang is quiet and pensive; Iroh concludes it is perhaps a good time to approach the other subject blocking the Avatar's development. "When my nephew began training-"

"_Don't_." The cup boils in the Avatar's hands. "Don't talk about him to me."

"You will understand yourself better if you work to understand Zuko."

"_No_."

Normally this is the point at which Iroh drops the subject. He does not do so this time. "It is a very difficult thing, for a man to change his view of the world. You are seeing life in terms of good and bad, right and wrong, success and failure. That is a rigid stance that will only lead you to defeat again and again."

"But there _is_ such a thing as good and bad!" Most of the tea has turned to steam in the air. "The Fire Lord is bad! Azula is bad! _Zuko _is bad! He chose evil and that's... that's why..."

"_Actions_ may be bad, Avatar Aang, but you will find that _people_ most often are not." Iroh smiles wanly. "Prince Zuko chose his family, and while such choices may lead to terrible things, they are not evil."

Of the mistakes Iroh made in Ba Sing Se, the one he regrets most is that he expected too much from his nephew too soon. Zuko had started down a better path, but he had not traveled far enough to withstand the temptation of his father's acceptance. Older and wiser men than he would also have been swayed by Azula's pretty lies.

"It _is_ evil." Aang sets down the tea cup, which immediately burns a circle into the table, and rubs his eyes with his wrist. "He hurt Katara. He _took her away_. And now she's gone, she's been captured, she might even be-"

"But she might not," says Iroh. He sincerely hopes the little Waterbender is alive for many reasons, not the least of which is if she is dead then Zuko's choices led her murder. It is a stain which can never be cleansed. "And holding so much anger inside - at my nephew, at yourself, at anyone who has wronged you - creates a whirlwind that will blow you away. You must ground yourself, or you will never be able to find the discipline to master the elements. Least of all firebending."

"But Ozai is angry," the Avatar insists, "and _he's_ mastered firebending."

Iroh refills his tea cup. "No, Aang, my brother is not angry. He is full of hate. Hate is disciplined, but it is not the sort of discipline you should seek."

The Avatar shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Sifu, but I can't. I can't not hate Zuko. Not ever."

There is a quiet moment, and then Iroh sighs deeply. "Perhaps this isn't the right blend of tea for you," he says. "Next time we will try a Puerh."

* * *

><p><strong>The Twelveth<strong>

The ring of orange flame blazes cleanly through the morning air, and Iroh nods approvingly. "Good."

Aang stretches and cracks his knuckles with a cheerful grin. "I can't _wait_ to show Katara," he says.

The Avatar had not been told of the rescue attempt, for multiple reasons: first, that it would distract him from training; second, that he might insist upon going; third, that it would raise his hopes too high. There was no gurantee, after all.. but if the little Waterbender was still alive, she would surely be at the Boiling Rock.

They had managed to keep the plan secret until Hakoda, Sokka, and Toph departed. But such things get out - they always do - and now, with the party's return expected at any moment, Aang could barely stand still.

"I'm sure Katara will be very impressed," says Iroh, "particularly if you do not burn off her braid."

Aang looks down, then belly-flops into the snow to put out his flaming robe. "I thought I had it that time," he moans, face down.

"You are doing an excellent job of paying attention to your surroundings, but you are forgetting to pay attention to _yourself_. The fire comes from within, and you must separate it from yourself as it emerges."

"I thought the whole point was that fire is a part of me."

"It is, but it is a part you must create and then sever. The fire is fueled by emotion; only by releasing yourself from that emotion can you effectively release the flames. Otherwise they will only remain attached to you in body and mind, and you will be burned again and again."

"But I thought I wasn't supposed to _have_ emotions! You said they make a whirlwind!"

"Whirlwinds will always exist. A sparrowkeet will travel far by riding air currents, Avatar Aang, but it must travel _with_ the whirlwind, not _within_ it."

Flakes melt against the blue tattoo on the boy's head. "This is worse than the onion and banana juice," he grumbles, standing back up.

Iroh's eyes widen. "Why would anyone drink onion and banana juice?" It is an appalling concept.

"Guru Pathik said it was good for my balance."

"Guru Pathik has obviously never tasted the delights of pearl jasmine tea. Now go through the fifth and sixth positions, and this time-"

A broad, oval shadow passes overhead.

"It's Appa! They're back!" The Avatar stamps a foot, and columns of ice rocket teacher and student out of the deep training circle. Before Iroh even gets to his feet, Aang creates a smooth snow sled beneath them and then they are racing the outline of the bison across the frozen wasteland.

Ten minutes later, they make it to the walls of the city.

Fifteen minutes later, the Avatar nearly brings the walls down.

Thirty minutes later, Iroh sits at Aang's bedside, gently rubbing the child's back as he sobs into a mound of seal furs. "I am sorry," Iroh says. "I am sorry for your loss."

"_She wasn't lost! She was taken!_" The boy shouts a stream of half-strangled threats and promises born of grief, and Iroh does not stop him. The boy in front of him is marked by a blue arrow on his forehead, then by a white bandage across his face, then by scarlet blood seeping from his neck-

Aang is trying to get to his feet, his eyes red and raw. "I'm going to the Oasis," he declares. "I'm the great bridge between our world and the Spirit World. I can get Katara back. I _will _get Katara back."

_The black creature, worm and insect alike, hovers overhead. "What pitiful creatures you mortals are," it hisses through a lemur's sharp teeth, "forever beating shovels against rocks, trying to disturb what should be left in peace."_

_"Tell me where to find Lu Ten. You must tell me where to find my son."_

_"Must I?" The lemur's face splits into a hissing laugh, which emerges from the pink mouth of a pretty girl. "Do you think you are the first to come to my lair, begging for a child, a parent, a spouse? They call you the Dragon of the West, do they not? But you are no dragon, for dragons live long and know of birth and death."_

_"It is my siege, my war that took his life. Sons should not have to pay for their fathers' sins."_

_"And yet they do. They have since the sun rose and they will until the moon sets. Your sins will not be expunged here."_

_"Please, I beg you. Help me. He is my son. He is my boy..."_

_"So he was. Now go home, and live your long dragon life as the foolish old man that you are."_

Iroh smiles sadly at Aang. "Even the Avatar cannot reverse death."

And the Avatar collapses again into tears.

* * *

><p><strong>The Sixteenth<strong>

It is the last tea they will have before they set forth for the invasion. "All right," Iroh says, pouring out two cups, "this is called Silver Needles. If it is not the most delicious drink you have ever sipped, I will eat my own beard."

The boy shakes his head. "I'm sure it's great, but I'm not thirsty."

"Tea is not for quenching one's thirst. You should know that by now."

"I know. I just... I only understand the basic techniques. Everything keeps going wrong... I'm not sure I'm ready, Sifu."

"No one is ever ready," says Iroh. "But we must drink anyway. You would not want to face the Fire Lord without a belly full of warm tea."

Aang's expression turns dark. "It isn't the Fire Lord I want to face," he says coldly.

Iroh does not tell the child that he will not have the chance to confront his perceived enemy. Iroh ought not to travel with them. Iroh ought to be summoning the White Lotus members together and preparing for their own, concurrent invasion. But Iroh will go with Chief Hakoda's force, because he must be there, because he will step between the Avatar and the Fire Prince if they meet. Because it is not right that a son should pay for his father's sins.

"Drink your tea," says the Dragon of the West.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: I will, sooner or later, get to what exactly went down at the invasion. It's just sort of difficult to figure out whose story it should be._


	7. Observations from a Rock Ledge

_**A/N**: Guess who's feeling prolific this week? This girl! _

_My mental soundtrack for all A:tLA contemplations is, for some reason, ridiculous popcorn pop. I think vids are to blame._

_This takes place shortly after I Don't Have a Clue (Chapter 3)._

* * *

><p><em><strong><span>Observations from a Rock Ledge<span>**_

_now if she moves like this, will you move her like that?  
>Metro Station, "Shake It"<em>

* * *

><p>The ice floe shoots in a sparkling arrow across the surface of the creek, and it looks like <em>this <em>time-

-but the floe is cut off neatly by a ring of fire.

"ARGH!"

"Almost there!" The smile on Katara's face is bright and, to her credit, at least seventy-five percent genuine. "That was _really_ close."

"No, it wasn't," say Aang and Zuko simultaneously, the former standing waist deep in water and looking dejected, the latter on the shore and looking annoyed.

Katara glares at Zuko. "You're not helping."

Zuko glares right back, then snorts and looks away.

Haru is getting worried - but then, he's pretty sure everyone else is too, so at least he's in good company. This has been going on since he arrived from the Temple twenty minutes ago: Katara coaches Aang on a waterbending move, Aang tries it, and Zuko (standing in for Ozai for the purposes of the exercise) blocks effortlessly. With each failed attempt all three get more aggravated.

It's not a pretty picture.

Haru calls out, "Maybe it's time to switch to earthbending?" He's Toph's stand-in teacher for the afternoon; she stomped into the temple the night before and said if she didn't take a day off she'd crush all their skulls with boulders. "Work on water later?"

"Thanks, Haru, but he's nearly got it," Katara calls back. "Just ten more minutes!"

"Okay." It was ten more minutes ten minutes ago. Haru settles back onto the rocky overhang - a nice, safe distance from the action - and wonders whose head will explode first.

"Right. Good. Now, Aang, try again, except move your arms wider a teensy bit." Katara demonstrates. She's standing on the bank, ankle deep in mud, apparently trying not to influence the water herself. "See how I did it? That'll make the ice move faster."

"Not much," Zuko grumbles.

"I didn't ask you."

"Well, it _won't_."

Haru flinches at Katara's expression, and he's twenty feet up on the opposite bank. "Are you suggesting," she says between gritted teeth, "that you know more about waterbending than I do?"

"I know that a broader reach won't make more than a quarter second of difference-"

"A quarter second might be all he needs-"

"Not for this fight!"

"So, what, you see the future now?"

"Given that _I'm_ the only one here who's-"

A sheet of ice races across the creek, freezing the foam, coating rocks and algae-

-and Zuko blocks the attack without even looking away from Katara.

Aang lets out another yell of frustration.

The kid is clearly both mentally and physically exhausted. Haru doesn't know a thing about waterbending, but even to him it's obvious that these are beginner's mistakes, and the Avatar _isn't_ a beginner. Everyone just needs a break. "How about lunch?" Haru suggests.

"_No!_" shout three furious voices.

Yeesh.

Katara wades out towards Aang, the water darkening her purple tunic. "All right." Her voice has gone testy. "When you think of Zuko as Ozai-"

"It might work better if he thinks of Ozai as me," Zuko says darkly.

"Be _quiet_," Katara snaps (as Aang shoots Zuko an angry look). "Now, if we get this right, it will freeze the Fire Lord in place, you see?"

Aang nods.

"Okay. Just watch." Katara rolls her abdomen, raises her arms-

-and the ice doesn't make it a yard before Zuko's fire cuts it off. A burst of steam rises into the air as the water splashes back into the creek.

Katara lowers her hands and frowns. "What was that for?"

"I knew what you were going to do."

"Of _course_ you knew what I was going to do! I _told_ you!"

Zuko just shrugs.

Haru can see Katara's eyes narrow. "Okay, fine. Aang, try this one instead." Fast as lightning, three balls of ice raise themselves from the stream-

-three tongues of fire melt them just as quickly.

"_Stop that!_ I'm trying to teach!"

"Sorry," says Zuko. "I can't help it if you're predictable."

There's a beat as Aang and Haru suck in a simultaneous breath.

Katara's chest is heaving. "Predictable?" she growls dangerously. "Did you just call me _predictable_?"

"Yes. I did. You're predictable."

Aang takes several steps back; Haru just holds on to the rock beneath him.

For a moment, Katara seems beyond speech. Zuko's expression remains completely neutral, as though he hasn't just enraged the most dangerous Waterbender in a thousand miles. Haru, on the other hand, is seriously considering fleeing before things start to erupt in the literal sense.

Then Katara takes a few deep breaths and appears to calm down. "Fine," she says, her tone clipped. "I'll show you _predictable._"

And she starts to take off her clothes.

The three males in the vicinity swallow hard.

A moment later, the Waterbender's robes and leggings land on the bank with a slap. She stands wrapped only in her winding sarashi cloth, which is white and soaked and... not entirely opaque. "We may as well do this right, don't you think?" she says innocently.

Zuko's expression is nowhere near as neutral as it had been a moment before. He wets his lips - then smiles. It's the first time Haru has _ever _seen Zuko smile. "May as well," the Fire Prince echoes, sounding just as innocent as he strips off his own shirt.

Katara's eyes gleam.

"Uh, Aang?" Haru motions to the kid, who is standing with his mouth open like a giant koi. "You might want to come up here with me." It would be unfortunate if a duel between two of the Avatar's teachers accidentally killed said Avatar. Ozai would laugh at that one.

Aang zooms up to the overhang. With a stomp and a gesture, Haru raises a protective earth barrier in front of them, low enough that he can see over. For the shorter boy, he opens a wide slit in the rock at head-level. "Pay attention," Haru says. "You might learn something."

Aang's expression is fearful. "Do you think he'll really hurt Katara?"

Haru watches as the Masters bow mockingly to one another. "I think I'd worry more about Katara hurting him."

The Avatar's jaw sets... then he looks down with a petulant scowl. "I guess that would be bad too," he concedes grudgingly.

Then the duel starts.

It's Zuko on the offensive first, shooting fireball after fireball from his fists, faster than the eye can follow; for a panicked moment Haru digs his toes into the earth and prepares to knock Zuko off his feet. The Firebender's actually going for the _kill_-

-but Katara stops the attacks effortlessly, her forearms encased in water and knocking aside the orange flames like they're nothing more than wasp gnats. "Really?" she taunts, having to yell over the hissing of the steam. "That's the best you can do?"

"I thought you would want to start slow," he shouts back, "since you're out of practice!"

Haru sure hopes they can find new waterbending and firebending instructors after this.

Zuko wheels around and sends a long line of flame at Katara's head; she leans back, her hair trailing in the water, the fire just missing her nose. Zuko pauses for a half-second with a worried look on his face-

-and then the creek is frozen over, straight onto the bank, anchoring Zuko's legs up to the knee.

"Oh," says Aang, "so _that's _how it's supposed to work!"

"Guess so," says Haru, right before _he _ducks to miss a storm of droplets that zoom through the air like bees. The fire that follows nearly singes off his eyebrows.

"What on earth is going on?"

Haru and Aang glance up. Leaning over the edge of the cliff are Sokka and Suki. Sokka's carrying a string of fish. Suki's tunic is on backwards.

"Zuko and Katara," Haru says simply.

"What about them?"

Aang gestures lightly; the light breeze clears the steam from the atmosphere. Most of the creek is circling in a whirlpool, and several of the nearby trees are burning.

The duelists look like they're having the time of their lives.

"Oh," says Suki.

"Huh," says Sokka.

They all observe as a moment later, two long, razor-thin streams of water start whistling through the air. Rings of fire cut through them again and again, but they keep reforming as Katara twists and spins and snaps the barbed whips inches from Zuko's throat. How they haven't killed each other, Haru has no idea.

At the same time, even through the haze, Haru's not exactly blind to the fact that Katara is... uh... _flexible_.

"Hey," Aang says suddenly, "that's a firebending move. How is she doing that?"

"No idea," says Haru, watching Katara's curves.

There's a loud cough from overhead, and Haru realizes Sokka is glaring daggers at him. "Suki," Sokka says (or, rather, shouts over a sudden explosion below), "can you take Aang to show him the thing?"

"Huh?" Suki replies distractedly, her eyes focused in the direction of Zuko's chest. "What thing?"

"You know. The thing. The thing that's back by the Temple."

Suki looks back at Sokka and frowns. "What are you talking about?"

Sokka smacks a palm against his forehead. "Suki, honey, can you please take Aang far away while I have a word with the Earthbender who is ogling my sister?"

"Wait, what?" says Aang.

Hot water rains down over them, followed by laughter and shrill accusations of cheating from below.

"C'mon, Aang," Suki says, sounding amused, "help me find some vegetables for you to eat. I don't want to accidentally pick something poisoned."

"But I-"

"Otherwise you'll have to eat fish, you know."

A horrified look comes over the Airbender's face. "I think I saw some leechi nut trees back to the west."

"Great!"

The Avatar gracefully floats up to where Suki waits; Sokka awkwardly slides down to Haru's ledge with a curse. As soon as the foraging expedition leaves, Sokka crosses his arms. "You were looking at my little sister."

Haru is a mild person, which is why he doesn't roll his eyes. "I was just-"

"Now, I understand. Katara isn't just a sister, she's a... _girl._" Sokka barely manages to say the word, and sounds disgusted at the very idea. "But you should know that as her older brother, I have a right to be consulted before you get any ideas into your head about her... uh... _girlness_."

Haru raises his eyebrows. "You think Katara will let you be _consulted_ about who she dates?"

"It's my duty," Sokka says solemnly.

"_I'm going to kill you!_" Katara shrieks from below, skating along a wave of ice to keep ahead of a wall of fire. "_I'm going to murder you in your sleep!_"

"It's your fault for trying to block with your robes!"

"Don't get me wrong," Sokka continues, "I like you. You're a good guy and you can grow a mustache." He strokes his own goatee - all three hairs of it. "And Katara's getting close to marrying age. Aunt Wu said her husband would be a powerful bender."

"Did she," Haru murmurs, watching the battle.

"Yeah. Aunt Wu was a total fraud, of course, but what matters is that _Katara_ believes it. So since _you're _a bender, if you decide to court her that will work in your favor-"

"Sokka-"

"-but I will be chaperoning _every_ date and you're not to keep her out past sundown-"

Zuko and Katara are in close now, their fire and ice blades flashing so quickly that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

"-and if you so much as _think_ of doing more than holding her hand I will shove my boomerang so far up your-"

"Listen," Haru interrupts finally, "you don't have to worry about me marrying Katara."

Sokka's face turns red as his eyes narrow to slits. "If you think you're just going to, to... _take advantage _without-"

"No, I mean, I'm not interested."

"What? Why not? Is my sister not good enough for you? I'll have you know that she's-"

"Sokka," says Haru, slightly exasperated, "Katara is great." And very attractive when she's half-naked, which is of course why Haru was looking. "But I don't want to date her. I think it would make things kind of complicated."

"What do you mean?"

The duel has degenerated into an undignified tussle on the opposite shore, both combatants muddy and fighting for the upper hand.

"Have you considered," Haru suggests, "that she might be involved with someone else?"

Sokka blinks, then waves his hand dismissively. "You don't have to worry about Aang. I know he's the Avatar and all, but Katara doesn't think of him that way."

"I really don't think it's Aang you have to worry about," Haru says.

Katara has Zuko pinned to the ground, his wrists frozen into the mud, her foot on his shoulder. "Tell me what a great Waterbender I am, _Fire Lord_," she demands loftily.

Zuko spits a lick of flame at her ankle. Katara jumps to dodge, stumbles, and falls flat against Zuko's chest.

He smirks.

"Who am I supposed to worry about, then?" Sokka asks.

Katara's face is flushed. "Yeah, well-" her hands close over Zuko's arms and her knees slide down his sides "-I'm still not letting you up. Not until you say _please_."

Haru takes that moment to lower the earth shield. Loudly.

Alerted by the noise, Katara and Zuko glance up at the ledge, and the Waterbender quickly scrabbles to her feet. "I... um..."

"Right," says Zuko. "Yeah."

"I'm just... gonna go now."

"Uh-huh."

Sokka finally looks down to the wide swath of destruction that used to be a calm stream. "Hey, who won?"

"It was a draw!" Katara shouts as she jogs back in the direction of the Air Temple, still in her sarashi. Her purple robes sit in an ashy heap on the shore.

Zuko rolls over into the water. Face down. "You okay?" Haru calls.

"I'm fine," comes the hoarse, strangled reply. "I just... need a minute."

The expression on Sokka's face is completely confused. "Did I miss something?"

Haru just shakes his head.

* * *

><p>From a distance, the smoke from the battle is easily visible against the clear blue sky.<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: We were due for a little fluff, yes?_


	8. Strategies for Sister Rescuing

__**A/N**: Yeah, another Zuko- and Katara-less Zutara part, but sometimes these things have to be done, kind of like writing Appa's Lost Days. Also, why is this in past tense, whereas most of the others are in present tense? No idea. Just felt right.__

_This overlaps with Sparrowkeet (Chapter 1), The Princess (Chapter 2), and The Teachings of Tea (Chapter 6)._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Highly Modifiable Strategies for Sister-Rescuing <strong>  
>(as conceived by Sokka of the Water Tribe)<em>

* * *

><p><em>Just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.<strong><br>-Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"**_

* * *

><p><strong>1. Escape. Allow ally to rescue sister.<strong>

* * *

><p>"We need to get out of here! Quickly!"<p>

"Where's Katara?"

"Wait, I can't hear Twinkletoes breathing!"

A growl.

"Hurry, Bosco!"

"...pardon me, but is that a bear?"

The lights of Ba Sing Se (The Formerly Impenetrable City) barely illuminated the strange scene outside the palace:

An enormous, shaggy sky bison - which were supposed to have been extinct for the last hundred years - carrying a boy in blue, a girl in green, and a slender man. A short, fat fellow, trying to hoist a limp child onto the bison's back. A bear, also trying to climb aboard the bison. (As a point of note, the bear should also have been extinct, cross-bred out of existence long ago. But the story digresses.) Shouts from within a giant hole in the ground. Shouts from outside the palace walls. Shouts from the people in question.

"What's wrong with Aang? What's going _on?_"

"_Where is my sister?_"

"There's no time!" Iroh (Former General-and-Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Dragon of the West) shouted, lifting the unconscious boy higher. "You have to run!"

Sokka (of the Water Tribe) reached down and grabbed hold of Aang (Last Airbender, Avatar, Great Hope For The World, etc.)'s arm. He managed not to wrench said arm out of its socket as he yanked upward. "Where-" pant "-is-" grunt "-_Katara?_"

Appa (Last Sky Bison) roared as Bosco (possibly Last but certainly A Bear) dug his claws into the bison's fur and, at the urging of Kuei (Deposed Earth King of Ba Sing Se), attempted to hoist himself up. Tufts of white hair flew everywhere.

"All of you _shut up!_" Toph (Bei Fong Scion, Greatest Earthbender Alive) slid from her perch and stomped her foot; two mounds of rock erupted from the ground, launching Iroh, Aang, Bosco, and Toph herself neatly onto Appa's back.

(There are advantages to traveling with an Earthbender.)

Appa let out a plaintive moan under the sudden and not-inconsiderable influx of weight. "Let's go!" Toph shouted, fisting her hands deep in fur. Kuei followed suit; Bosco, after a moment, spread himself flat and held on with his teeth.

Sokka grasped Aang with one hand and grabbed Iroh's shirt with the other. His blue eyes narrowed. "My. Sister."

"Is with my nephew," Iroh answered. "But we must leave, or we will all be captured."

And Sokka (Big Brother), having been previously assured by Iroh that there was good in Zuko, and having been previously assured by Toph that Iroh was trustworthy, came to the natural conclusion that if his sister was with Iroh's nephew, then his sister was okay.

"Yip-yip!" Sokka called, and the group (Strange Even By Ba Sing Se Standards) flew off into the night.

* * *

><p>"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, SHE'S BEEN CAPTURED?"<p>

Iroh (Rotten Deceiver) sighed heavily. "I'm afraid Zuko... chose to join with Azula, and assisted in the taking of Ba Sing Se. Katara was hurt in the crossfire."

Sokka (Big Brother) nearly threw the old man out into the open air. "WE LEFT HER BEHIND! YOU SAID SHE WAS SAFE!"

"I said she was with my nephew," Iroh corrected.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING HER WITH YOU?"

The old man's face was grave in the pale morning light. "I had to chose between her and the Avatar. I am sorry."

Sokka buried his face in Appa's fur and screamed in anger.

Toph had kept one hand on the unconscious Aang's chest, feeling for his breath and heartbeat. "Guys, Twinkletoes isn't doing so good," she said urgently. "We've gotta get him some help."

Meanwhile, Kuei looked down at the lands and lakes below, eyes wide with amazement. "My kingdom is awfully beautiful, isn't it, Bosco?"

Bosco (who they had discovered was prone to air sickness) groaned miserably.

"It's not your kingdom any more," said Sokka. "It's the Fire Nation's." He rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Okay. Okay, we need to go get Dad. Then we'll sail back to Ba Sing Se and find Katara."

"Snoozles, wait-"

"The boy needs healing," Iroh said.

"HEY!" Sokka (Designated Driver) shouted, shaking Appa's rein. "Who's driving, huh? _I_ am! And _I_ say we're going to Chameleon Bay!"

Appa made a deep, plaintive noise.

"I think we're too heavy for Furball here." Toph patted Appa's side. "Is Chameleon Bay at least close?"

"Closer than anything else. And we know it's safe."

"Then we better move quick."

Sokka nodded. "All right, Appa, this is for Katara and Aang. Yip-yip!"

With an exhausted growl, the sky bison put on an extra burst of speed.

* * *

><p><strong>2. Attain reinforcements. Prepare stealth invasion. Rescue sister.<strong>

* * *

><p>A loud crash woke everyone from their beds. Shouts rang through the air as the Water Tribe warriors (Only Men Of The South Pole) scrambled from their tents to sight of a sky bison lying flat in the sand and surrounded by several figures, some face-down on the beach, others sputtering in the water.<p>

Toph stuck a hand beneath her. "Ugh," she said, disgusted. "Not more sand."

Sokka was the first to his feet, spitting out seaweed. "Dad! _Dad!_"

"Sokka?" The confused crowd split as Hakoda (Chief of the Southern Water Tribe) ran towards the group (Strange Even By Southern Water Tribe Standards). "What's going on? What happened? Who are all these people?"

"Dad, Katara's gone!"

Hakoda (Father) paled. "What do you mean, _gone?_"

"She's been captured! We have to go help her! We can sail up the river and follow the ferry-"

"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that," interrupted an extremely moist Iroh. He held out a dripping hand to the flummoxed Hakoda. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Iroh."

Hadoka blinked and shook Iroh's hand automatically. "Iroh, as in The Dragon of the West?"

"The very same," Iroh (Dragon of the West) replied pleasantly. "The girl scrabbling in the sand is Toph, the gentleman hugging the bear is King Kuei, the bear being hugged is Bosco, the air bison is Appa, and the unconscious child being licked by the air bison is Aang the Avatar. The panicked boy pulling your arm is your son Sokka, but I assume you've already met."

"Great," said Sokka, barely holding back his impatience. "Now we all know each other. Dad, Ba Sing Se's been taken by the Fire Nation and Katara's still there."

"_What?_"

"A little help over here?" Toph shouted, stumbling on the beach. "Blind girl needs some rocks!"

"It's going to be okay," Kuei said comfortingly to Bosco. "We're safe now."

The Water Tribe warriors just looked at one other.

* * *

><p>Hakoda, Iroh, Kuei, and Sokka sat in the principal tent, examining the crude map on the floor.<p>

"Wow," said Kuei (Deposed Earth King), staring at the scroll with wide eyes. "I had no idea the Earth Kingdom was so... _big_."

"Enormous," Iroh (Former General) agreed. "Be grateful for it, or the Fire Nation would have overrun you long ago."

Hakoda shot Iroh a dirty look.

"All right." Sokka pointed firmly at the river connecting Chameleon and Full Moon Bays. "We'll split the ships here. Dad, you and I and Toph will continue on to Ba Sing Se-"

"Sokka-"

"-and the rest of the warriors will wait by Serpent's Pass. We'll sneak into the city-"

"Son," Hakoda (Chief) interrupted Sokka (Big Brother), "slow down for a moment."

"What? It'll work!"

"It might," Iroh said gently, "but there's a problem. The Avatar needs to get to the North Pole. Quickly. Only waterbending healers will be able to save his life."

"Well, yeah. Appa can take him."

"But someone must guide Appa."

There was a long pause before Sokka looked up, wide-eyed with horror. "Hey, hang on-"

"You're the only one who's done it before," said Iroh.

Sokka swallowed. For a moment he was silent, staring at the map again... then he shook his head. "Okay, fine," he said briskly. "I'll take Appa and Aang to the North Pole. Dad, you and Toph and General Iroh-"

"I can't return to the city," Iroh said, "the Fire Nation soldiers will recognize me." He patted his large stomach. "I'm afraid I'm not very stealthy."

"And I've never been inside the walls," said Hakoda.

"Yeah, but Toph has! She can tell you where to go!"

"Toph is blind, son. There are limits to what she can do."

Sokka turned to Kuei, who shook his head. "Sorry," Kuei said. "I'd never even been outside the palace until a few days ago. I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help."

Sokka (Big Brother, Designated Driver) looked at the three downcast faces. "You can't be serious," he said, stunned. "We can't just leave her there."

"Son-"

"Dad, it's _Katara!_"

"Sokka, being a man is knowing where you're needed most. You know this. And right now, we're needed in places other than Ba Sing Se."

"It's always about _where we're needed!_" Sokka shouted. He slammed his fist against the map; it crumpled slightly and sank into the blanket beneath. "Not this time! _You're _the one who told me to protect my sister! I'm not leaving her behind!"

Kuei (Sheltered Young Man Unused To Disagreements) shifted awkwardly.

"May I suggest," Iroh (Practiced Uncle) said, tone serene, "an alternative approach?"

For a few seconds, all Sokka (Betrayed Son) could do was glare at Hakoda. Then he glanced at Iroh and nodded shortly.

Iroh reached over his large belly to indicate the map. "We are all agreed that the Avatar must get to a waterbending healer with all due haste."

Three nods.

"Then here is what I recommend. Sokka, Earthbender Toph, the Avatar, and myself will take the air bison to the North Pole; the moment Aang is recovered I must begin his firebending training. Chief Hakoda and the Water Tribe warriors will follow by sea. Once we have come together, we will strategize not only the rescue of Katara, but the planned invasion for the Day of Black Sun."

Hakoda and Sokka stared at Iroh in shock; Iroh smiled blandly. "Your men gossip, Chief Hakoda," he said. "You may want to speak to them about that."

"What about me and Bosco?" asked Kuei.

"You will stay nearby. When Ba Sing Se is retaken - and it will be retaken - you _must _be prepared to sit on the throne that very day. If there is any question of who is in charge, it is chaos that will rule."

Sokka crossed his arms. "This still means leaving Katara," he said coldly.

"Temporarily, yes." Iroh spread his hands. "One must pick one's battles, Sokka of the Water Tribe, and part of being a successful tactician is making sure _you_ choose the field of battle. Your sister cannot be rescued from Ba Sing Se, but she may not remain there. Like brewing a cup of jasmine tea, we must wait for the water to cool or we will scald the leaves."

Hakoda glanced at Kuei, who shrugged.

"You think they'll take her out of the city?" Sokka asked, looking at the map again.

"Azula and Zuko will need to return to the Capital soon to prepare for Sozin's Comet. Katara is a war prisoner who may have valuable information about the enemies of the Fire Nation. They will not leave her behind."

"If she's still alive," said Hakoda (Father) quietly.

Iroh paused, then nodded. "If she's still alive."

"She's alive." Sokka narrowed his eyes. "And we're going to get her back."

* * *

><p><strong>3. Heal injured. Prepare for rescue of sister.<strong>

* * *

><p>"I hate this place." Toph stomped thick boots against solid ice. "I hate this place a <em>lot<em>."

"At least there's some dirt frozen in there," said Sokka, chewing on a piece of seal jerky.

Toph smacked the flat of her hand against the wall, which was also made of ice. "Not much," she grumbled. "I should have just stayed in the Earth Kingdom with some nice solid boulders."

Sokka threw an arm around Toph's shoulder. "Yeah, but then who would keep me company? No one up here appreciates the fine art of sarcasm except you."

Taking another bite, Sokka missed Toph's small smile and blush. She whacked his chest with a thunk. "Someone's gotta keep the locals from tossing you in the ocean, I guess."

"Exactly! Jerky?"

"Sure."

It had been over three weeks since they'd arrived at the North Pole, to varying levels of consternation by those present. In particular, Chief Arnook has been of many minds about his new guests: he was happy to see Sokka (Former Boyfriend Of His Deceased Daughter), confused to see Toph (Blind Earthbender Entering An Ice Fortress), worried to see Aang (Still Unconscious Great Hope For The World), and severely displeased to see Iroh (Infamous Fire Nation Warlord Involved In Recent Siege). All of Sokka's wheedling had been necessary to keep the group (Strange Even By Northern Water Tribe Standards) in tact, and even then only with assurances that Iroh would sleep outside the walls.

They were barely in time. Only the intervention of the most experienced healers in the world, combined with the power of the Spirit Oasis, had kept Aang alive - and it _still_took five days before they would say with any certainty that he would wake up. Now it was just a waiting game.

Which was the unspoken reason why Sokka and Toph were cooling their heels (literally). Someone was going to have to talk the Avatar down off the ledge when he found out what had happened to Katara.

For himself, Sokka had spent the time carving an almost inhumanly detailed map of the Earth Kingdom into his bedroom wall. "Okay, so, Gaoling's down here to the south."

"I think you made the mountain range too wide."

"Really?" Sokka scratched his chin and peered closely at the outline before- "Hey!"

Toph smiled. "Gotcha."

"That's not fair. Even blind girls are making fun of my drawings."

Toph stood up and felt her way along the wall, then traced the light indentations of the map with her fingers. "It's pretty good, actually," she said. "You're a better map maker than an artist."

"You think?"

"I have no idea. But from what I hear _nothing _can be worse than your art."

"Thanks. That warms my heart."

Toph whacked him again, then sniffed and wrinkled her nose. "You stink, Snoozles. Don't you ever wash your socks?"

Sokka looked down at his feet. "I'm not very good at it," he said.

* * *

><p>Aang (Only Avatar To Ever Give Up The Avatar State For A Girl) woke up that afternoon.<p>

After the outer walls cracked under the force of the Airbender's rage, Arnook (Put-Upon Chief) nearly kicked them all out again. It took Sokka mentioning Yue to calm him down.

After Chief Arnook walked off, grumbling, Sokka blew out a relieved breath - and turned to see Iroh watching him. "I don't know what his problem is," Sokka complained. "Just because every time we come here the city almost gets destroyed-"

"I think it is time," Iroh interrupted, "for you to begin _your _training, Sokka."

Sokka's snort crystallized in the frigid air. "I don't know if you noticed, but _I'm_ not a bender."

"But there are many things at which you excel." Iroh stepped forward, looking at Sokka speculatively. "You have a quick mind and a quicker wit; both of those are valuable possessions."

Sokka (Annoying Loudmouth) frowned. "I don't know who told you my wit is valuable, but they were pulling your leg."

Iroh ignored this. "The time will come soon to rescue your sister. I believe I know where she is most likely to be, and if you are to succeed you will need to be ready in both mind and body. It will take time and effort. Are you prepared for that?"

Sokka nodded without hesitation.

"Excellent. Now, are you familiar with the Unagi Islands?"

"They're the eastern end of the Fire Nation's archipelago," answered Sokka (Map Lover) promptly. "They look like a pirate's hook." He demonstrated with his fingers, screwing up his face in an appropriately pirate-like fashion.

Iroh chortled. "Yes, something like that. On the northernmost island is a town called Shu Jing, and in the town of Shu Jing there is a white castle, and in the white castle is a man named Piandao. Go to Piandao, and tell him that Iroh intends to teach you pai sho."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "You mean that really boring game with the tiles?"

"Pai sho," said Iroh (Grand Lotus Of The Order Of The White Lotus), folding his hands into his borrowed fur robe, "is only as boring as those who play it. And something tells me, Sokka of the Water Tribe, that you would be a _very _interesting player."

* * *

><p><strong>4. Train for rescue of sister.<strong>

* * *

><p>Piandao (Greatest Sword Master And Sword Maker In Fire Nation History, Member Of The White Lotus) set down his calligraphy brush and frowned. "Iroh is going to teach <em>you<em> pai sho."

"That's what he said," said Sokka, picking a bit of crust out of his ear.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Iroh?"

Sokka (Occasional Mime) raised his hand, indicating shortness, then gestured in a circle, indicating roundness, then imitated sipping, indicating tea, then twirled his finger next to his head, indicating insanity.

Piandao sighed. "That's him."

"Good," Sokka said, "because if I had to go find _another _northern island in the Fire Nation's archipelago with a town called Shu Jing and a white castle and a guy named Piandao, Appa would be really annoyed."

A whining growl sounded from the castle's courtyard.

Piandao rose slowly from the floor. When Sokka didn't move, he narrowed his eyes. "It is customary to kneel before your master," he said severely.

Sokka's eyes widened, and he dropped to his knees instantly. "So... you're going to teach me?"

"If Iroh commands it." Piandao (Sifu) crossed his arms. "Now tell me: _why _are you here, Sokka of the Water Tribe?"

Sokka shrugged, then lowered his head at Piandao's disapproving look. "I'm here prepare myself in body and mind," he said solemnly, "so I can rescue my sister."

Piandao paced in front of his desk in short, sharp steps. "Your sister is gone?"

"Her name is Katara. She got left behind as a captive of the Fire Nation."

"And you wish to revenge yourself upon her captors, yes?"

Sokka paused for a long moment before answering. "That _would_ be a bonus," he admitted, "but mostly I just want her back. It's my job to protect her."

If Sokka were looking up, he'd see the expression on Piandao's face shift slightly.

"I'm not a bender," Sokka continued, "so I know there's only so much I can learn. I'm not even sure what Sifu Iroh _wants_ me to learn, except pai sho, which is kinda weird, I mean I would've guessed he'd want me to learn about tea or something, but that's not really the point. I promise I'll work hard. I'll try to be worthy of whatever you're willing to teach me."

The room was absolutely silent for a long minute.

"Stand," Piandao ordered, "and hold out your arms." Sokka scrambled to his feet and obeyed; Piandao circled him slowly with narrowed eyes. "You are built for the Jian sword," he said, "so that is what I will teach you. And Sokka, many of the most fearsome battle masters in history have never felt the pull of an element. The _mind_ is a greater weapon than any fireball or boulder. That is your first lesson."

Sokka (Pupil) began to smile.

* * *

><p>Sokka was... an usual student, there were many times over the following weeks in which Piandao (Old Man With Set Ways) had wanted to kill him, strap his dead body to Appa's back, and return the corpse to Iroh with a stern note.<p>

And yet, somehow, he learned.

"Good! Using your superior agility against an older opponent - smart!"

"Good use of terrain - fighting from the high ground!"

"Use your surroundings - make them fight _for_ you!"

Sokka (Perhaps Not Excellent But Talented And Very Creative Student Of The Sword) was disarmed, of course, but it took a full ten minutes, and by the end Sifu Piandao was breathing hard. "Excellent work, Sokka."

"Thanks. Can I have my space sword back?"

Piandao moved the point of his blade from Sokka's throat, and Sokka immediately rolled across the stones to his fallen weapon and clutched it lovingly. "It's okay, baby," he crooned. "You did good. That one was my fault."

(The degree of devotion to which Sokka showed his sword - built from a meteorite which had struck the earth not long after his arrival - bordered on unhealthy. Still, the sword _was_ quite awesome.)

Piandao rubbed the sand out of his eyes. "Sokka, you are ready."

"Ready for what?"

"Ready to return to the North Pole and face your destiny."

Sokka (Big Brother) jumped to his feet. "You mean it?"

"Yes." Piandao sheathed his weapon and stood straight. "You have learned well. I have full confidence that you are equipped for the tasks before you. If you remain as unpredictable and clever as you have been under my tutelage, no enemy will defeat you."

The low bow hid Sokka's flushing cheeks. "Thank you, Sifu. I will try to do honor to your teachings."

"You will... if no one strangles you first." Piandao (Exasperated But Still Very Proud Master) pulled a small stone from his pocket and handed it to his student. "Take this White Lotus tile to Iroh. Tell him you'll make a fine opponent."

"You old guys are _really _into board games, aren't you?"

"Pai sho can be very engrossing." Piandao nodded to Sokka. "I wish you the best of luck with your sister."

Sokka nodded grimly in return.

* * *

><p><strong>5. Infiltrate enemy territory. Hide in plain sight. Rescue sister.<strong>

* * *

><p>"This," said Sokka, "is the Boiling Rock."<p>

"So that means it's made of rock, right?" Toph asked eagerly.

"Um... yes."

"All _right!_ Time to get _off _this ice cube!"

Hakoda frowned at the map. "I assume that in addition to being made of rock, it's also boiling."

"That's what Sifu Iroh said." Sokka scratched his head with the edge of the space sword, which made Hakoda (Father) wince. "It's an inescapable prison in the middle of a volcano surrounded by a boiling lake of water emitting sulfur and steam."

"_Still_ better than an ice cube," said Toph (Earthbender In The Snow).

"It was built for hardened criminals and war prisoners. Azula and Zuko have had time to make it to the Fire Nation by now. That's where they would have sent Katara."

"All right then, son, what do you suggest?"

Sokka drew a line from the North Pole to the Boiling Rock. "Here's the plan. We fly Appa to the edge of the volcano; he can hang out, sunbathe, go swimming, whatever. He deserves a vacation."

"As long as he doesn't catch on fire."

"Then Toph, during the night you'll take rocks from the edge of the volcano and build a path to the island, and we'll run across. Once we get to the prison, you'll open a passageway through the walls. Dad and I will steal some guard uniforms and blend in. You'll wait outside and stay out of sight."

"I'd complain, but digging a cave and relaxing actually sounds _fun_."

"Dad, we'll spend the day looking for Katara. Then that night we'll sneak her out and we'll all be flying off on Appa before the sun rises. We'll be back in plenty of time to get ready for the Day of Black Sun." Sokka (Master Strategist Of Unspeakable Intelligence) grinned. "Nothing can go wrong!"

Toph groaned as Hakoda closed his eyes briefly.

Sokka's face grew serious. "But no one can know about this. We can't tell _anyone_, or Aang will find out."

"Boy, is Twinkletoes gonna be mad he's not coming."

"He's got to stay here and train. And there _is_ always the teensiest, tiniest, most infinitesimal speck of a chance that something might not go exactly according to my brilliant plan-"

Hakoda pinched the bridge of his nose.

"-and Aang has to be kept safe so he can beat the Fire Lord." Sokka frowned down at the map. "Being a man is knowing where you're needed most. Aang is more important than everyone, even Katara. He's needed here... and we're needed at the Boiling Rock."

Hakoda (Chief, Father) laid a heavy hand on Sokka (Man)'s shoulder.

* * *

><p>Under the cover of darkness, two men and a woman snuck through a rend in the iron wall of the Boiling Rock Fortress (Formerly Inescapable Prison). Toph leapt to her feet and threw herself at the woman. "Sugar Queen!" she cried... then paused. "Wait-"<p>

"Hi, Toph," said Suki (Kyoshi Warrior, Escaping Prisoner).

"What are you doing here? Where's Katara?"

"We didn't find her," said Hakoda (Father).

"But... Gramps said she'd be here if she was..." Toph trailed off, and her sightless eyes filled with tears.

Sokka took off the helmet of his guard uniform and dropped it quietly to the ground. "Let's go," he said dully. "I never want to see this place again."

Suki squeezed his hand. Hakoda was silent. Toph jerked her wrists, and a rocky path raised itself out of the steaming water.

It wasn't until the group (Strange Even By Boiling Rock Standards) was on Appa and the volcano was out of sight that Toph asked, "So... what's the plan now?"

"I don't know," said Sokka (Big Brother).

* * *

><p><strong>6. ? ? ?. Avenge sister.<strong>

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: Does this timeline work? Um... kinda. It's compliant within itself (Zuko's timeline matches Katara's timeline matches Sokka's timeline) but within the more general question of canon-established dates... yeah, uh... you kinda have to tilt your head and squint. That being said, if the creators can say that Appa flies at the speed of plot, then I can get away with pulling the time-taffy a little. At least that's how I justify it to myself. Also, I'm still not positive that the World of Avatar isn't flat._


	9. Ling

_**A/N**: The time has come for me to flatly dismiss two parts of canon._

_First: **Roku and Sozin cannot be Zuko's great-grandparents**._

_We're talking clear, straight ret-coning by the creators (which we know for a fact, since "Zuko Alone" stated that Azulon was Fire Lord for twenty-three years, a perfectly respectable reign by any standards). Even if one were to accept that Sozin sired his FIRST CHILD in his eighties (unless all his previous children had died), and that for some reason Azulon had waited to have Ozai until his sixties (because I would say Ozai's age can be reasonably assumed to be perhaps forty), there is the problem of Roku. The absolute latest that Ursa's parent could have been born would be nine months after Roku's death (and Roku's wife would have been in her eighties). That would mean that Ursa (who seemed to be in her thirties in "Zuko Alone") would have a mother or father around the age of seventy-two at her birth._

_No. I call shenanigans. Zuko would be at least second-great grandson, more likely third-great, which also means there were more Fire Lords in the last 160+ years than just Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai._

_Second: **Ursa is dead**._

_This one is just me stomping my foot and pouting. By the end of "Zuko Alone" I had come to the conclusion that Ursa had offered her life in place of Zuko's, which Ozai accepted, and then Ozai turned around and killed Azulon. (Possibly Ozai had loved Ursa - though not as much as he loved the idea of being Fire Lord - and then killed Azulon in anger; also this would have cemented his antipathy towards Zuko, who theoretically cost him his wife. Or not. It's all debatable.)_

_Anyway, I happily lived with this perfectly reasonable version of the story until "The Day of Black Sun", when for some damn reason we found out Ursa poisoned Azulon and then was banished for it. What? Huh? Does that make sense? No it does not. The hell with it. I reject the creators' reality and substitute my own._

_I only rarely tell canon to stuff it in my stories; since I write AUs based on momentary plot deviations, it seems like cheating to change more stuff just to suit my own purposes. I'm doing it anyway. That's just how it's gonna be. (I feel a little drunk on my own power right now, to be honest.)_

_Anyway, long A/N over with. This takes place immediately following **Sparrowkeet** (Chapter 1) and overlaps with **The Princess** (Chapter 2)._

* * *

><p><strong><em>Ling<em>**

_how these days grow long / but i'm on my way back home  
>Brandi Carlisle, "Dying Day"<em>

* * *

><p><em>"General Fong's base will serve as the launching point for the attack. The army and navy will invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun."<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Taizo<strong>

Taizo's family has worked the waters of Imouto Island since time immeasurable. His father taught him the art of using octo-geese to capture little flashing lion-trout as they passed by in their schools; you tied a string around the octo-goose's neck, so that when she trapped a fish in her long tentacles and tried to eat, her meal would stick in her gullet. Then the octo-goose would return, cough the whole lion-trout into the boat, and dive back to capture another. A good morning could yield a catch of over a dozen.

"Remember," Taizo tells his grandson Tomo, who watches with wide eyes as Taizo unties the string, "you must always give her the best fish at the end of the day. Otherwise she won't dive tomorrow."

Tomo nods. The boy selects the largest and brightest fish from the pile and tosses it to the octo-goose; she gulps it down with a chirp, then sticks herself to the side of the boat and accepts a scratch under the chin from Taizo.

"Good girl," Taizo says.

"Good girl," Tomo echoes.

The row back to shore is a pleasant one. The last few days have been stormy - not that that makes any difference in Taizo's work, fishing happens whether the sea spirits are angry or not - but today the morning sun is bright and the breeze is cool. They push the boat into the sand and fix it to the same overhanging tree to which it has always been fixed.

"Granddad!" Tomo cries out of nowhere, tugging on Taizo's sleeve and pointing. "Granddad, it's red!"

Taizo follows his grandson's gaze... and his heart sinks. "Tomo, put the fish away," he says as he climbs out of the boat. "And don't look."

Tomo obediently drops his eyes and begins stuffing the day's catch into the sack.

It isn't the first time Taizo has found someone on the shore. The Capital can be a rough place; currents often carry debris from the harbor to the nearby island, and once in awhile the debris is human. Taizo always makes sure to bury the body and ask the spirits to bless it with guidance. His family has always shown respect.

Gentle waves pull at long, tangled hair and silk robes. A woman, then, and young by the looks of it. Sad. Taizo kneels and turns her over onto her back.

She coughs.

Taizo straightens immediately. "Tomo?" he calls.

"Yeah?"

"Run to your grandmother and tell her to light the fire."

"Why-"

"_Now_, Tomo." Taizo pauses for a half-second, then adds, "And don't forget the fish!"

* * *

><p>The girl doesn't wake for two days. Fen sits patiently by her makeshift bedside - a pile of blankets kept inches from the fireplace - and pats her through her fevered tremblings while Taizo shoos the curious children away.<p>

Finally, on the third morning, the girl opens startling blue eyes. "Gran-Gran?" she croaks.

Fen sighs sadly, and Taizo squeezes her shoulder. His wife has a soft heart. "I'm afraid not," she says, patting the girl's forehead with a white, wrinkled hand.

"Where am I?"

"Imouto Island," says Fen. "You had a bit of a rough time, I think, but you washed up to our home. You're safe now."

The girl runs her tongue along cracked lips. "Water?"

Fen produces a pot of lukewarm tea. "This will be easier on your stomach," she says. "And be sure to sip, not gulp."

After three cups, the girl mumbles her thanks and rolls over. She's asleep again within moments.

"Poor child," Taizo says, then heads out for the morning catch.

* * *

><p>When Taizo returns for lunch the girl is sitting at the table, slowly eating a small bowl of rice while Fen tries unsuccessfully to stop the children from peppering her with questions.<p>

"Who knocked you in the water?"

"How come you were sick?"

"Were you in the Spirit World?"

"Have you ever gone fishing?"

Fen gives Taizo an exasperated look. "Taizo, this is Ling. Ling, this is my husband Taizo. He's the one that found you."

Taizo nods to Ling, who nods back respectfully. "Thank you," she says, her voice still a little ragged. "Thank you for saving me."

"It is the ocean spirit who saved you, not I," says Taizo. One must not take credit for the work of the spirits. "But I am very glad she chose to so."

Ling smiles. She's a bit older than Taizo thought she was, and in a way she looks a little like his daughter-in-law, lost to the Spirit World two winters ago. Not the same coloring, of course - where did this girl come by such nut-brown skin? - but a similar kindness. "Is that stew I smell?" Taizo says to Fen.

Once the bowls are doled out the family automatically raises their spoons; Ling looks around, then follows suit. "To the Fire Lord," Taizo says solemnly.

"To the Fire Lord!"

It's quiet through the first few bites - Fen makes the best fishhead stew - but then Ling pauses. "Excuse me," she asks, "but what day is it?"

The children giggle slightly. "Manners," Fen scolds them, then shares the day.

"You're kidding." Ling has turned a bit green. "It can't be _that _late..."

Taizo takes pity on her. "If you don't have anywhere to go, we have an extra bed in the loft. It belongs to our son, Taichi. He's away in the Earth Kingdom."

"Dad's in Ba Sing Se," Tomo pipes up, beaming. "He won the war!"

Fen smiles indulgently. "He _helped _win the war," she corrects.

Ling doesn't seem to notice that her spoon isn't actually lifting any stew. "So... Ba Sing Se has _definitely _fallen?" At the confused looks from around the tables, she adds, "I've been at sea for a long time."

That would explain quite a bit. "Princess Azula and Prince Zuko took the city many weeks ago," Taizo says. "The walls have come down, and the Earth Kingdom is liberated at last."

"Thanks be to the spirits," murmurs Fen.

"Liberated?" Ling echoes hollowly.

There is something strange about this girl. "Where did you say you were from?" Taizo asks, frowning.

Ling looks down at the table, and a blush rises in her cheeks. "Uh... the colonies," she says, sounding sheepish. "It's a very small town. We don't get a lot of news."

Oh. Of course. Taizo relaxes. "Now that the Fire Lord has captured Ba Sing Se _and_ Omashu," he explains, "the people of the Earth Kingdom will join with the Fire Nation, and this terrible war will finally end."

"But what if the people don't want to?" says Ling. Her eyes are wide. "I mean, in the colonies... I've met some people of the Earth Kingdom, and I'm not sure they really interested in, uh, _joining_ the Fire Nation."

Fen snorts. "Lies told by the tyrants of the cities," she says bitterly. "They hide behind their walls and their Earthbending hordes, pretending like their people wouldn't be honored to be part of the greatest country in the world, keeping my son in danger for their own selfishness-"

"Quiet, Fen." Taizo glances at the girl, who is suddenly looking very small and young. "The dinner table is no place for this sort of talk."

"Hey," the third grandchild asks, completely uninterested in the rest of the conversation, "how come you've got blue eyes?"

Taizo sighs, but Ling smiles at the children affectionately. "Where I come from," she says, "lots of people have blue eyes."

"Really?"

"Ooh!"

"Wow."

"That's so cool."

* * *

><p>The moon is high in the sky when Taizo is wakened by the sound of movement outside. He gets up - being careful not to distub Fen as he does - puts on his slippers and robe, and pads out the back door.<p>

Ling sits on a craggy rock, staring out at the ocean. She jumps when Taizo coughs lightly. "Sorry, she whispers, "was I making too much noise?"

"No, I'm just a light sleeper." He sits down beside her. His old bones creak. "I hope your bed wasn't uncomfortable."

"It was fine. I just..." Ling sighs, then peeks up at the sky and smiles slightly. "Just wanted to be outside, that's all."

Taizo nods. "My son is the same way. He slept in the trees whenever he could when he was young." He looks sideways at Ling; this girl is pretty, sweet, and patient with the children. "You would like him, I think."

"I'm sure I would," Ling says distantly.

"You're welcome to stay for as long as you like."

Ling shakes her head. "I'm really grateful for everything you've done," she says, "but I need to go home."

Taizo frowns. "All the way to the colonies? Alone?" She's much closer to a woman than a child, but that's still much too far for a girl to travel by herself.

"I have to. It's really important that I get there as soon as I can. Besides, my brother and my friends... they're probably worried."

It clicks into place. Ling's age, her confusion, being on a ship for so long and falling into the sea and wanting to leave again quickly...

She must be a runaway. A girl who left her village for some foolish reason - following a boy, perhaps - and then came to see the errors of her ways. Now she is trying to return to her family and make amends.

Taizo understands that his place is to help her. The spirits brought her here, and the spirits do not act without reason.

"You'll need a boat," he says.

* * *

><p><strong>Sheng<strong>

"Lieutenant! _Lieutenant!_"

Lieutenant Sheng rolls his eyes as he sets down his scroll. "What is it this time, Gao?"

"There's something out there in the water! I think it's a ship!"

"You mean another sea-lion?"

"No! I mean, it's the same size as a sea-lion... and the same color... and kind of the same shape..."

"Oh, give me that." Sheng yanks the telescope away from Gao. Lookout duty in the northern dragon of the Great Gates of Azulon is quite possibly _the_ most boring job in the history of the Fire Nation navy, but Gao has only been here for a month and has yet to figure that out. Every time the slightest bit of flotsam drifts past or the tiniest marine animal swims by, Gao jumps into Red Alert. If it keeps up for much longer Sheng is going to flame-broil him.

Gao points frantically a hundred yards to the west. "See? See that? It's a ship!"

Lieutenant Sheng squints, then adjusts the telescope focus. Huh. "It's not a ship, it's a _boat_."

"We need to raise the gates!" Gao is nearly vibrating with excitement. "I'll send up the alert-"

"Shut up, Gao." Sheng is already descending the steps from the watch window. A little lost boat is certainly _not_ a great concern, and if Gao sends the alert to raise the gates they'll both be the laughing stocks of the navy - not to mention probably demoted. Still, no floating craft is supposed to cross the pass without proper clearance, and there is duty to attend to.

There's a small door in the dragon's front claws; Sheng steps outside and picks his way down the wet stone steps. The boat is drifting closer, and now he can see it carries a single figure. "Ahoy there!" he calls.

The figure freezes. As it does, the boat starts to noticably sink into the water. "Ahoy," calls back a hesitant female voice.

There's a thundering from the stairwell, and a moment later a fully-armored Gao crashes into Sheng's back, nearly knocking them both into the sea. "Who is it?" Gao asks urgently. "Is it invaders?"

"They're on _our side of the gate_, moron." Sheng watches as waves starts to slosh over the boat's sides. It's clearly going under. "Swim for it!" he shouts at the woman.

The woman dives gracefully into the water; the boat disappears almost instantly beneath the foam. A moment later Sheng's helping her up onto the rocks. "Ship trouble?" he says.

The woman - a girl, really - sighs. "I was keeping it afloat," she says, "but then I couldn't concentrate enough to steer."

"I'll bet. How'd you get all the way out here?"

"I'm... uh... traveling."

"Careful, Lieutenant!" Gao's voice is muffled from within his helmet. "She could be a spy!"

Striking a fellow soldier - even one who is a total idiot - is against regulation, so Sheng smacks his own forehead instead. "Yes, Gao, I'm sure the Earth Kingdom has sent a half-drowned kid to document our reports on sea-lion crossings."

"Exactly!"

"Hey, I'm not half-drowned!" says the girl indignantly. "And I'm _not_ a kid!"

Sheng glances down at the girl's wet robe... and the body it's clinging to. "My mistake," he says.

The girl blushes and crosses her arms over her chest. Sheng laughs. "I'm just teasing. Come on, we've got towels inside."

"But Lieutenant-"

"Shut up, Gao."

* * *

><p>The girl - whose name is Ling, apparently - comes out of the washroom with Sheng's spare shirt hanging almost to her knees. Sheng tries not to smile, but it's really <em>cute<em>. "Thanks for letting me borrow this," Ling says.

"No problem. Your clothes might take awhile to air out. The sea water gets into _everything_."

Ling shoots the washroom door a disgruntled look. "Yeah," she grumbles. "I guess it would be weird if they dried really fast."

Sheng's feet are up on the table of the dining hall-slash-rec room, a twelve-by-twelve utilitarian space with a few windows cut into the stone for observing the ocean. "You want food?" Sheng asks, indicating a bowl. "It's military-grade, so you might be better off chewing on one of Gao's boots-"

The girl sits at the table and starts shoveling noodles into her mouth so fast Sheng wonders if she's going to bite through her chopsticks. "Hungry?" he asks, surprised.

Ling pauses for a moment and looks up at Sheng with wide eyes - very blue, that's unusual - before gulping down a mouthful. "Sorry. I, uh, haven't had much to eat recently."

Sheng takes a bite of his own lunch. "Lost your supplies?"

"Ran out a few days ago."

"There's some little villages nearby. Nothing exciting, but they've got a couple of markets..." Sheng trails off, watching Ling look down and flush. "Ah," he says. "No money."

Ling shrugs. "It's okay. I've been fishing a little, but eels are pretty gross when they're raw."

"Not a Firebender, huh?"

"No, definitely not." She glances up at Sheng. "You?"

Sheng smirks and snaps his fingers. A flickering flame appears over his thumb.

Ling smiles. She _is_ a pretty one. "Are you any good?"

Because he'd punch a guy who said something lewd to his kid sister, Sheng manages not to take the bait. "Decent," he says honestly, "but not good enough to be Admiral or anything. No one would mistake me for a Fire Lord."

For some reason that makes Ling blush. Probably has a crush one of the Royals. Maybe Lu Ten, except she looks like she couldn't have been more than eight or nine during the siege of Ba Sing Se...

Sheng sighs. His twenty-second birthday is next month. "So, any of your family in the military?" he asks, trying to take his mind off the fact that he's getting horrifyingly old.

Ling pulls at a lock of her hair. "Um, yeah," she says. "My dad and my brother."

"Anyone I'd know?"

"I doubt it. They're, uh, in Omashu."

"Oh. Well, it's cool that they're stationed together." Sheng shoves in another mouthful of noodles. "My dad's been at sea for almost three years. So it's been awhile."

"I'm sorry," says Ling, and she looks like she means it. "Maybe you'll get to see him soon, now that the war's over."

Sheng rolls his eyes in disgust. "Are you kidding? The war's _never_ gonna be over."

"But... Ba Sing Se has fallen. The Earth Kingdom lost and the Fire Nation won. What more is there to do?"

"Oh, there'll _always _be something more," Sheng says. "Ozai loves war. Not enough to go fight himself, of course, but enough to find some reason to keep bombing or flaming or whatever it is he wants to do this week."

Ling looks completely taken aback. "You think so?"

"I know so." Sheng is fourth generation military and he knows how the world works. "General Iroh, now, _he_ got out there and led the armies himself. I met him once, you know?"

"Did you," Ling says.

"Yep. It was awesome." His father had taken him to a soldiers' banquet when he was ten; General Iroh smiled _right at him_ and recommended the Dragonwell tea. He'd refused to drink anything but Dragonwell for a month. "General Iroh would have been a great Fire Lord. But instead we're stuck with Ozai, then that crazy bitch Azula after him, and we'll all be going into battle until our grandkids are old and grey."

Sheng has been stationed at the Gates of Azulon for two years. He has gotten used to speaking his mind, given that hardly anyone was there to hear his thoughts.

Ling starts to say something - probably tell him off for his disloyalty - then swallows and looks away. "Well... what about Prince Zuko?"

"What about him?"

She blushes so red it looks like her face is flaming, but her voice is steady. "Do you think he'd make a good Fire Lord?"

Yeah, definitely one of the girls with a crush. "I have no idea," says Sheng. "He hasn't served. But he _did_ piss off Ozai enough to kicked out of the country... so I guess he can't be that bad."

Ling smiles slightly.

At that moment, Gao bursts through the door with an armful of scrolls and a jar of ink. "All right," he says, narrowing his eyes at Ling. "It's time for the interrogation."

Sheng bangs his head on the table. "Gao, there is something seriously wrong with you."

"We don't know who she is or what she's doing here, Lieutenant." Gao opens a scroll and dips a brush in ink, a grim look on his face. "We don't even know if her name is really Ling."

"Gao, you moron-"

"What were you doing out here?" Gao interrupts, pointing his brush at Ling. "And where are you headed?"

"I-" Ling glances at Sheng, pale and obviously intimidated. "Do I have to answer?"

Sheng shakes his head and takes another bite of noodles. "Just let him do his thing," he says wearily. "It'll be over faster that way."

"Oh. Um..." Ling pokes at her empty bowl. "I'm, uh, trying to get to the colonies. I got separated from my family."

"A likely story," Gao huffs.

Sheng looks up. "I thought your family was in Omashu," he says, frowning.

"Right! My dad and brother are. But, uh, my Gran-Gran... she's still at home. And the last time I saw her she was really sick. Dying."

Gao makes a series of emphatic notes on the scroll. "And where's this supposed home?"

"It's, um, just outside General Fong's fortress. I need to get there as fast as I can."

"Ah-HA! There IS no colony outside General Fong's fortress!"

"Well, it's... it's a really little one..."

Sheng kicks Gao's arm; the scroll is instantly marred by a long black streak. "Gao," he snaps, "leave her alone." Some of the Fire Nation colonies are established, but there are so many tiny hamlets skirting the line between 'colonized' and 'occupied' that they're impossible to map.

"But Lieutenant, I-"

"No. I'm your commanding officer and I am _ordering_ you to stop being so damn stupid."

After Gao slumps from the room, Sheng pinches the bridge of his nose. "Ignore him," he says to Ling. "He needs a hobby."

Ling smiles weakly.

* * *

><p>After she gets a good night of sleep and a few more solid meals, Sheng motors Ling the short distance back to shore. "Head along the coast to the east," he says as she climbs out. "There's a few little towns where you can rest. It's gonna take awhile, but eventually you'll get to the ferry that goes to Ember Island. It's a big resort; <em>someone <em>there has to be heading east. Just ask around."

Ling nods, hoisting her bag of dry noodles over her shoulder.

"And here." Sheng reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little sack of coins. He pushes it into her hands when she tries to protest. "C'mon, I'm just thinking of your brother. He's a fellow soldier, and if he ran into _my_ kid sister I'd want him to do the same for her."

To his surprise, Ling throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly. To his _greater_ surprise, Sheng finds himself blushing. "Yeah, well," he says, "just look out for yourself, all right?"

"I will."

Sheng waits until the girl is out of sight, then heads back to the most boring job in the world.

* * *

><p><strong>Chiya<strong>

It's three Spark Bombs into the evening, and Hazuki has finally moved from denial to anger. "That jerk," she seethes, reaching into the bowl of fire flakes. "I swear, if he got eaten by a moose-lion I'd laugh and dance on his grave."

Chiya - Chi-Chi to her friends - pats Hazuki's back. "I never liked him," she says. "_Such _a slimeball."

"I know! I can't _believe _I ever thought of marrying him!"

"You can do _so_ much better."

"I can!" Hazuki tries to stand, but her legs get tangled in her seat; Chi-Chi grabs her before she falls face down on the patio. "I can do better _tonight!_ There's _lots _of hot guys here!"

"Great idea," Chi-Chi says enthusiastically. She is feeling the buzz of the Spark Bombs herself. "You show what's-his-name!"

"That's right!" Hazuki pauses, then plops back down at the table. "One more drink first, though."

"Of course."

The night has been exciting so far, especially for an impromptu vacation. Chi-Chi had planned to spend an extremely boring weekend doing paperwork from home, but then Hazuki had come by in tears and announced that she'd caught her latest boyfriend with some skank in the Oyster District and it was totally over between them and she needed someone to come with her to Ember Island for her no-longer-anniversary trip, would Chi-Chi be interested?

Naturally, Chi-Chi wrote a note delcaring herself sick with pentapox - which everyone knew the soldiers had brought back from the Earth Kingdom - and that she couldn't come into work for at _least_ a week. And now she was working on her tan and coaxing Hazuki through the five stages of breakup grief.

"How about him?" Chi-Chi points at a particularly fine specimen of manhood leaning against the bar. "He's hot."

Hazuki turns to look. "Whoa," she breathes. "_Nice_." Then she makes a face. "Wait, ugh, he's chatting up that little thing."

Chi-Chi narrows her eyes and tries to focus more clearly through her slightly blurry vision, having left her glasses at home because _no one_ wears glasses on Ember Island. It's true: Hot Guy is talking to some girl with wavy, annoyingly beautiful hair. Wavy Girl is gesticulating, and Hot Guy's leaning in like what Wavy Girl's saying is the most _fascinating_ thing in the _entire _world.

"Bah," Chi-Chi says, and she is about to declare that there are plenty of sexy fish in the sea when Hot Guy leans down and says something to Wavy Girl that makes her step away. Hot Guy grins and says something again.

Wavy Girl hauls back and smacks him.

The crack echoes around the resturaunt patio, and the crowd goes silent for a moment in surprise. In the quiet, Chi-Chi clearly hears Hot Guy's response: "_Bitch._"

And Hazuki jumps to her feet with all the fury of a woman scorned. "Oh, you did _not_ just say that," she shouts, pointing at Hot Guy. "Just _who_ do you think you are, buddy? Huh? You _men_, you think you can just talk to girls that way! Well, you _can't!_ Go rot in the _coldest corner of the Spirit World_, you _bastard!_"

Hot Guy looks surprised at the total stranger's outburst, and while Hazuki continues her tirade, Chi-Chi gets up and walks over to Wavy Girl. "Don't pay any attention to my friend," Chi-Chi says. "She's just working off some issues."

"Apparently," says Wavy Girl, sounding a bit stunned.

"Was that creep your date?" Wavy Girl looks a couple of years younger than she and Hazuki.

"Oh, no. I was just asking him if he knew... Never mind. I'm not here with anyone."

"Then come sit with us," says Chi-Chi. "We girls gotta stick together, you know."

* * *

><p>It takes another round of Spark Bombs, but Hazuki finally stops ranting and cheers up. "I sure told <em>him<em>," she declares proudly. "I only wish what's-his-name was here to see it!"

"That would have been awesome," agrees Chi-Chi.

"Definitely," Wavy Girl - or rather Ling from the colonies - slurs the word. Her Spark Bomb is gone and her nose has turned as pink as a sunburn, even through her brown skin.

"Men are _completely _worthless."

"Exactly."

"No kidding. Except for in bed."

Chi-Chi and Hazuki turn to stare at Ling, whose eyes suddenly widen. She claps a hand over her mouth. "I can't believe I just said that," she mumbles through her fingers.

Hazuki starts to howl with laughter while Chi-Chi takes the empty glass away from Ling. "You don't drink much, do you?"

Ling shakes her head, clearly mortified.

"Well, there's only one solution." Chi-Chi waves to the bar. "Three more!" she calls.

"So, who's your guy?" Hazuki asks. "Or rather, what class of scum is he?"

The blush that crawls across Ling's face can't possibly be all from alcohol. "He's, uh, not my guy. And he's... not scum, he's just... it's really complicated."

Chi-Chi and Hazuki nod sympathetically. It's _always_ complicated with guys. "Is he waiting back in the colonies?"

"No. I'm not really sure I'll ever see him again. Not sure I want to, either. But maybe." A waiter drops off the drinks, and Ling ignores the straw in favor of a straight slurp. "Sometimes I think I miss him, but then I don't, but then I... I have no idea."

"Honey," says Hazuki, "you are preaching to the choir."

* * *

><p>After awhile, the conversation turns to government gossip. As a secretary in the War Department Chi-Chi has the inside scoop, and she and Hazuki eat it up just as much as anyone else in the Capital.<p>

"It's not propaganda this time," Chi-Chi says, chewing. They've moved on from fire flakes to sizzle-crisps. "Ba Sing Se was taken totally bloodlessly. A couple of files on soldiers who got knocked around by the citizens, but that was it. I couldn't believe it."

Hazuki shakes her head. "Well, if anyone could pull it off, it'd be Azula. She always was crafty." At Ling's confused look, Hazuki explains, "She was a few years behind me at the Royal Fire Academy. Top of all her classes, but just... _weird_."

"It's Zuko who's the weird one now," says Chi-Chi, recalling the whispers she'd heard in the hallways. "Word has it he stays shut up in his rooms and won't talk to anyone. Totally anti-social. Strange, huh?"

Ling looks down and takes huge swallow of her Spark Bomb.

Hazuki leans forward. "Have you heard anything about how he looks?" she asks in a hushed tone.

Chi-Chi looks around, then says quietly, "They're saying it turned out _really _bad. Like, half his face is blasted off."

"Oh, _wow_. Guess he never found a good healer, then."

Ling gulps more of her drink. Not smart. "You better eat some crisps," Chi-Chi warns, "or you'll get super-sick."

"They're too spicy for me," Ling mutters.

Hazuki shakes her head. "He'll have a rough time finding a match, then, don't you think? I mean, if he's as ugly as all that."

"Oh, please. He's the Crown Prince. No girl's going to care if it means being Fire Lady."

"_Is _he even Crown Prince, though? I mean, has the Fire Lord said anything?"

"Not that I've heard," says Chi-Chi. "But he'll have to settle the succession soon, if all these 'Phoenix King' rumors are true."

"Azula will never give it up without a fight. Even in school she talked like she was already sitting on the throne."

Chi-Chi shrugs. "All I know is, if the decision's been made, everyone's playing it close to the armor." Then she smirks. "But after all, no one has to hook up with _Zuko _to be a queen. The Fire Lord's not exactly decrepit."

Hazuki lets out an appreciative whistle. "No kidding. I could _totally_ get on board with an older man. Especially now that he's so much better looking than the son-"

"_Stop it!_" Ling slams her now-empty drink down on the table and glares at them both. "Stop saying that stuff! Who _cares_ if he's got a scar? It's not _his_ fault he has it! All that matters is what kind of person he is on the _inside!_"

Chi-Chi and Hazuki glance at each other - then start to laugh simultaneously.

"What?" Ling asks, clearly confused. "What did I say?"

Hazuki is nearly in tears. "Oh, Ling," she giggles, "I'm sorry, but that was just so _adorable_. How old are you, anyway?"

Ling blushes. "Fifteen."

"Whoops." Chi-Chi quickly grabs away Ling's empty glass and sets it in front of herself. On Ember Island the bars are really strict about the under-sixteens. "Shouldn't've given you that. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Um, okay."

* * *

><p>Chi-Chi's surprised to discover the couch empty the next morning. She stumbles into the kitchen - Hazuki's still snoring like a tigerdillo - and sucks down papaya juice until she feels something close to human again.<p>

The front door opens with a squeak; Ling bounces in looking cheerful. Chi-Chi blinks at her blearily. "I thought you'd be hurling," she says. "You looked awful when you went to bed."

"I felt pretty bad," Ling admits, "but then I took a long swim. It, uh, helped." She holds up a paper bag. "I brought some seaweed bread."

Chi-Chi's stomach turns. "Seaweed bread?"

"It's what the people in my village eat whenever they're feeling sick. Well, actually they eat seaweed soup, but I thought the bread might work too. I just wanted to say thank you for last night."

"You're welcome. I'll, uh, eat that later."

Ling sits down on the couch as Chi-Chi looks for a toothbrush to get the ashtray taste off her tongue. "Listen," says Ling, "do you know of anyone who's heading east soon? _Really _soon? I've been trying to find a way back home, and it's taking a lot more time than I expected."

"Well, the colonies _are_ a long way away."

"I'm used to traveling faster than this."

Chi-Chi frowns at the strange comment, but her head's pounding too hard for her to care much. "Well, I know a guy who knows a guy. Masato. He's on the next island over, so you'll have to get there, but he ought to be able to help you out."

"That's great. Thank you so much."

There's a sniffling noise from the other room. "I really miss the jerk," Hazuki moans. "Do you think if I write him when we get back-"

"No."

Later that day Chi-Chi tries the seaweed bread. It settles her stomach instantly.

* * *

><p><strong>Hama<strong>

Hama knows who - or rather, _what_- the girl is from the moment she walks into the village. The skin... the eyes... even the slightest accent that wouldn't be recognizable to anyone except herself. And the graceful arm movements of someone who has pulled the oldest element.

_A Southern Waterbender._

Hama thinks she might burst from happiness. All of her prayers have finally been answered.

She moves as quickly through the marketplace as she can, given her creaky joints and aching back. She knows she's getting old and her time in this world is running out. But the spirits have delivered someone to continue her work, so her step has a lightness she hasn't felt in years.

The girl turns away from the fruit vendor, looking vexed. Vexed and tired, and when Hama touches her shoulder, she jumps. "Oh!" Hama says brightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's all right." The girl steps back, a slight wariness in her eyes. How could she have come to be this far into the Fire Nation? And so young. She must have been through something terrible. "Can I help you?"

Hama can't resist a wheezy chuckle. "No, dear, I was going to offer to help _you_. My name is Hama, and I run the local inn. I was just noticing that you look as though you've been traveling, and it's getting dark. Would you like a room for the night?"

The girl hesitates.

"It comes with dinner and breakfast," Hama adds.

That wins the girl over. "Thank you," she says, nodding. "My name is Ling."

The girl's name is most certainly _not _Ling.

* * *

><p>She sends the girl up to her room with a smile. "Dinner will be ready in about an hour," Hama says cheerfully, and as the girl stifles a yawn she wags a mock-scolding finger and adds, "Don't fall asleep on an empty stomach. You'll have nightmares."<p>

At that, the girl cracks a genuine smile. "My Gran-Gran used to tell me things like that," she says wistfully.

"Of course she did. We old women are very wise, you know."

When the girl comes back down to the dining room, looking a bit more rested - the silly thing must have taken a nap anyway - Hama passes her a bowl. "When was the last time you had Five-Flavor Soup?"

"Five... flavor..."

Hama bends the soup straight into the girl's bowl.

Her mouth drops open.

"What's your real name?" Hama asks gently.

The girl swallows. "Katara," she whispers. And she bursts into tears.

* * *

><p>The soup is gone, as are the ocean kumquats and the pickled fish, before Katara has finished her tale. It is a harrowing one, filled with danger and bravery, and Hama is impressed with - and proud of - the girl's heroism. She is a credit to the Southern Water Tribe.<p>

"So you see," Katara says, wide awake in spite of the hour, "I have to get to General Fong's fortress as soon as possible. The Fire Nation knows all about the invasion plans for the Day of Black Sun. Our ships will be sailing right into a trap."

A tendril of anxiety winds its way around Hama's heart. "But you can't leave so quickly," she protests. "You've only just arrived. And how will you get there?"

"There's a man named Masato," says Katara. "My friend Chi-Chi thinks that he'll take me. The people in the village said he's gone missing in the forest-"

"Many people have gone missing in the forest," Hama murmurs.

"-so I'll have to find him. Once I do, I need to keep going."

"But you must stay at _least_ a few days," says Hama. The girl can't leave so quickly. The spirits have delivered her.

Katara looks miserable, but she doesn't waver. "I have to. I'm so sorry. I'll come back to visit as soon as I can, but I have to think of my friends. They'll all be captured, or worse, if I don't warn them."

Hama sighs. What a brave girl. Still. "Katara," she says, "may I tell you my own story? Because you see... I too was a captive."

Katara pales.

She tells of the raids, the chains and bars, the humiliation of being fed from rusted cups. Hama stops before relating how she escaped; the girl is not ready to hear the rest. Still, Katara's tears are a balm to Hama's old wounds; she has never shared any of this before. "I am so happy," Hama says, "that you were spared that terrible fate, child, for that is surely what awaited you."

The girl looks down, and a strange blush covers her cheeks. "If Azula had had her way, I'm sure it would have been," she says.

Hama's eyes narrow. The only part of Katara's tale that seems to have any blank spaces is of her time on the Fire Nation ship; Hama had assumed that it was simply too painful for such a young thing to discuss, but perhaps there is more to the story. Still, that is a discussion for another time. "Katara, please. Stay for just two more days. There are things I can teach you, powers no other Waterbender in the world has even imagined. Once you know them you will be an unstoppable force. You will be capable of doing _so much more _to win this war."

Katara hesitates for a long time... then nods with clear reluctance. "But only two days," she cautions.

Hama smiles. "That's all I ask."

* * *

><p>Hama tells Katara of clouds, of flowers, of sweat. The girl catches on quickly. Even better, she's not merely defensive; Katara is an aggressive fighter, capable of instant, brutal attacks that slice branches from trees and carve lines into stone.<p>

Katara is everything Hama could have dreamed of.

Nonetheless, the girl seems anxious as they venture out into the night. "In the village, they said people were disappearing out here," she says, peering around. "Are you sure it's safe?"

Hama gives her a reassuring pat on the elbow. "Two waterbending masters under a full moon? I wouldn't worry."

It is quiet for a few minutes, aside from the twigs cracking beneath their feet. Then Katara asks: "Do you like it here?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Fire Nation. Do you like it?"

Hama glances at the girl. "It serves its purpose. Why?"

She shrugs. "I've seen a lot of it by now, and... I didn't think I'd like it, but I do. On islands... the ocean is never very far away, so I'm always around water."

"A Waterbender's place is with snow and ice, dear." Hama stops in a clearing and looks up; the moon is round, full, perfect. "Can you feel the power it brings?" she says, breathing deeply. She glances at Katara with a smile. "Yue, you said her name is now?"

Katara nods.

"Well, Yue blesses us. She gives us life, energy, _power_. And it is our right, our _duty _to use it."

The girl looks uncomfortable all of the sudden, but Hama doesn't worry. Once she explains, the girl - _her _girl - will understand.

And Hama tells the girl of blood.

Katara is pale by the time Hama has finished her instructions. "I don't know," she says nervously. "It doesn't feel right. To reach inside someone and control them like that... I don't know if I want that kind of power."

This is unexpected - hadn't the girl been a captive as well? "Katara, the power is a _gift_. It has been given to us so that we may turn our enemies against _themselves_."

"Yeah, but... their free will..."

"They tried to wipe us out!" Why does she hesitate? "Think of your family - your mother - our _tribe!_ Think of your own imprisonment!"

The girl looks down at the ground. "I am," she says quietly.

What is _wrong_ with her? "Then you see-"

"No," says Katara. "I don't. What happened to you was terrible, but... you can't treat someone like they're not _human_ just because you don't like them. They're not puppets, they're _people_."

"People?" Hama snorts. "Nothing but wickedness held in skin-sacks of water."

"That's not true! Just because some of them have done awful things doesn't mean _everyone's _like that!"

"You are young," Hama says flatly. "Just because a man does good today doesn't mean he will not do evil tomorrow. The bad will always win out in the Fire Nation, little Waterbender."

"No, I don't..." The girl's words die, and then her face turns ashen. "It's you, isn't it?" she gasps. "You're taking the villagers. You're bloodbending them. You're _killing _them!"

Hama starts to laugh again. "Killing them? Please. That would be more mercy then they deserve."

"But these people didn't do _anything_ to you-"

"They threw me in prison to _rot_, Katara, along with my brothers and sisters. _They deserve the same fate._"

Katara's stance has shifted; she raises her arms in one smooth motion. "Take me to them," she orders. "Now."

What a silly, naive child this girl is.

All Hama has to do is turn her wrist, and the girl's hand twists behind her back. It would take nothing to pull her arm from her shoulder, but Hama is merciful. "You should've learned the technique before you turned against me," she says, yanking at the girl's muscles, forcing her to her knees.

She will understand. She will be _made _to understand.

For a moment, the girl trembles on the ground. Hama _feels _the tears of pain running down her face, and considers using them as well-

-and then Katara looks up. Even though Hama has not allowed her to do so.

"You aren't the only one who draws power from the moon," the little Waterbender says. The grass beneath her turns brittle and brown. "And you know what? I think Yue likes me more than she likes _you_."

Hama's eyes widen.

A moment later Hama is blocking a shot of water that whistles through the air, but it is nothing to whirl and send it straight back at her attacker. She yanks liquid from the trees and blasts a wall across the clearing, a terrible thing to have to kill the only remaining Waterbender of the Southern Tribe-

-but the girl stops the wall in its tracks. She wraps the water around herself. She ducks, she spins, she kicks - she _kicks? _-

-and Hama finds herself frozen to the forest floor. Before she has even a moment to comprehend what has happened, her hands are cuffed in solid ice.

"Now," says Katara, "you're going to take me to the missing villagers."

Hama can't believe what she's seen. It isn't possible. "How did you do that?" she demands.

The girl smiles humorlessly. "I learned a few things in prison, too."

* * *

><p>Hama sits in the cave, contemplating what will happen to her next - she prays death - and hears the girl ask, "Which one of you is Masato?"<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Masato<strong>

Even if Masato hadn't already been heading to the Earth Kingdom, he'd have dropped everything to take Ling anywhere she wanted to go. He'd been under that mountain for six months. Ling could ask to be sailed to Ba Sing Se and back and he'd have done it in a heartbeat.

They put out to sea the very next morning, Masato squinting against the painful sunrise. He catches Ling's worried expression and smiles sheepishly. "Sorry," he says. "Haven't seen the light in awhile."

"I understand," Ling says.

There's a quiet few hours while they head out into open water. Masato's vessel - _The Skunkfish Queen_, which is what comes of allowing your children to pick the name - is small but mighty. It's weathered more storms than he can count.

Masato is tired. Part of him wants to go below deck and have his first restful sleep in half a year. The rest refuses to look away from the open skies.

"So," Ling asks, "why are you going east?"

Masato shrugs. "I run supplies back and forth between the colonies and the Nation. And my family lives on the coast - my wife, three daughters."

"Which colony?"

"No colony." Masato winks at her. "The wife's an Earthbender. Middle daughter too, I think, but it might just be that she likes to stomp. We'll see when she's older."

Ling looks shocked. "You married someone from the Earth Kingdom?"

"Why not?"

"Well... there's the war..."

"So?" Masato smiles at the feel of the ocean breeze and the taste of salt in his mouth. He's missed this. "I wasn't gonna go running to the Earth King or the Fire Lord and ask for permission. They can go ahead and do whatever they want with their own lives. I've got a woman who can build her own house and that's good enough for me."

"Oh." Ling bites her lip. "Your family must be really worried about you, since you've been gone so long."

"Yeah," he says, his smile widening, "but they'll see me soon."

Ling smiles back.

* * *

><p>That evening, just as Masato is wondering whether to have dried squid or bean puffs for dinner, Ling lets out a sudden shout. "Over there! Do you see that?"<p>

He looks in the direction she's pointing. "What? Where?"

"Those ships! _With the purple sails!_"

He squints. There's a fog rolling in out of nowhere, but...

Uh-oh.

Masato crouches low and shushes Ling. "They're Water Tribe," he whispers. "Don't worry, just stay quiet. They won't bother us if we don't bother them."

"No, it's okay!" Ling takes off her robe and strips down to her underthings - Masato raises his eyebrows - then gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for everything," she says. "Say hi to your family for me!"

Ling jumps right out of the boat and starts swimming. She swims faster than any fish or eel or serpent Masato has ever seen.

A Waterbender. Huh. Of all things.

Masato shakes his head in wonder, adjusts the rudder to steer clear of the other ships, and keeps sailing towards home.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN_**_: The Oyster District is a reference to **Fandomme**'s epic fic "Stormbenders". I regret nothing. (Unless it turns out that she minds, and which point I regret everything.)_


	10. A Rush of Blood to the Head

**_Pre-A/N_**_: This one - based on **The Southern Raiders** - takes place not long after **Observations From a Rock Ledge** (Chapter 7) and awhile before **Of Edged Weapons and Eavesdropping **(Chapter 4)._

_Like A Dove rocks.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Hi, Like A Dove here. **

**A couple of weeks ago audreyii_fic asked me to write another Zuko bit for her _Sparrowkeet Series_ which I jumped on because, um, this story is awesome and I would have been stupid to refuse.**

**I suppose you could say that the delay for this update is all my fault HA.**

**Special thanks to audreyii_fic for letting me write for her story, and to Coldplay, who I pre-gamed with an embarrassing amount of times before writing this sucker.**

**Hope everyone enjoys (I think audreyii_fic likes it)! Also, the first bit in italics is written by audreyii_fic :D**

* * *

><p><em><strong>A Rush of Blood to the Head<br>**(written by Like A Dove)_

* * *

><p><em>I'm going to buy this place and start a fire<em>  
><em>Stand here until I fill all your heart's desires<em>  
><em>Because I'm going to buy this place and see it burn<em>  
><em>Do back the things it did to you in return.<em>

_A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay_

* * *

><p><em>A huge map papered the stone floor, depicting each of the four nations in stunning precision. Every harbor, every mountain, every tiny hamlet was etched out in perfect detail, rendering the mysteries of the world into shades of ink.<em>

_Sokka was clearly in love. It had actually taken several minutes before he was able to stop his infatuated staring to speak, but then he was all business. "So here," he said, drawing the tip of his finger from the Black Cliffs to Chameleon Bay, "is where the air ships will be attacking."_

_"Right," said Zuko. "They'll wait to the south, by Whale Tail Island, then set out to arrive at the mouth of the bay by the time Sozin's Comet arrives."_

_"To cut off any escaping armies."_

_"And citizens. They'll bomb every ship that tries to pass. It won't matter who's on them."_

_Most of the others were by the other fire, chatting over their dinners, but Katara sat close and ate her stew silently._

_"Okay." Sokka touched the western edge of the Earth Kingdom. "And the navy's going to land here?"_

_"No, here." Zuko pointed just to the north of where Sokka had indicated. "To block the river. Then the foot soldiers will disembark and march on Omashu."_

_"All Firebenders?"_

_"The advance troops will be. The non-Firebenders will come in from the south to clean up. After the cities are destroyed, the standing armies in the colonies will sweep around from the north. It's all coordinated. After that it's just a matter of taking the desert and Gaoling."_

_"And where do we need to send Aang? Where will Ozai be?"_

_"He'll travel with the air fleet to Chameleon Bay, then head north to Ba Sing Se on his own. He's planning to burn it down by himself."_

_"Can he?"_

_"With the power of the Comet? I don't know. Maybe. Probably."_

_Sokka let out a low whistle and shook his head. "Wow. I've gotta say, it's a good plan. It's a really good plan."_

_A small, pleased smile crossed Zuko's face. "Thanks."_

_There was a moment of silence... then Sokka looked up. "Wait, this was your idea?" he said, stunned._

_"No!" A flush rose to Zuko's good cheek as he amended, "Kind of. I mean, yes... well, parts of it. Not the parts where people get killed."_

_Sokka blinked. "You... planned a war where people don't get killed?"_

_"Not the citizens! I wanted to evacuate the cities first!"_

_"But it was your idea to burn Omashu and Ba Sing Se?"_

_Zuko rubbed his forehead. The fires in the Temple seemed to flicker. "Yes. If the people didn't have anywhere to hide, they would need the Fire Nation's help to rebuild. And then... I thought they'd get used to us. Eventually. And we wouldn't seem so bad after awhile."_

_"Wouldn't seem so bad after awhile?" Katara said, her voice low and dangerous as she stood up._

_Zuko quailed under her furious expression. "It was a terrible idea," he said quickly. "I see that now."_

_Sokka frowned at the map thoughtfully. "You know, it would probably work. If the Earth Kingdom people were scattered and disorganized they'd really have no choice but to accept the Fire Nation-"_

_"**They would never accept the Fire Nation!**"_

_Everyone turned to look as Katara's shriek echoed through the hall._

_"I'm sorry," Zuko whispered, climbing unsteadily to his feet. "I'm sorry. I wanted to end the war as fast as I could. I wanted us all to be on the same side."_

_"The same side?"_

_"I know, I'm sorry, I just thought-"_

_"You just thought what? That the Earth Kingdom wouldn't mind having their cities burned down? You thought they'd love the Fire Nation if you took everything away from them?"_

_"I was wrong! I know I was wrong - I figured that out - Katara, that's why I left!"_

_"Shut up!" The angry tears running down Katara's cheeks nearly dripped onto the map; Sokka threw himself forward to catch them before they blurred the outline of the Northern Air Temple. "I don't want to hear it!"_

_Zuko reached out, his face stricken. "Katara-"_

_"Don't!" She backed up instantly, dodging his hand. "Don't touch me! Don't look at me!" And she ran for the dorms._

_Zuko stared after her, then glanced at the wide-eyed spectators before quickly walking off in the opposite direction._

_The others turned to Sokka. He shrugged. "I guess she took it personally," he said._

* * *

><p>Zuko's side hurts. A lot.<p>

It hurts like hell, actually.

He pulls off his shirt and lays it off to the side before gingerly unraveling the white linen cloth around his torso. The gash and the bruise surrounding it stretches across the left side of his ribs, sensitive to the touch, and red, blue and purple. It looks like it's in the process of healing nicely—at least, it looks better than it did a couple of days ago. But it'll probably scar.

No matter. Zuko is used to having scars by now.

He applies an ointment, wincing slightly, before slowly laying back against his pillow in order to let the wound breathe a bit.

Zuko had thought that his focus had been getting better.

But it's hard to focus when a large amount of rocks are crashing straight at the person you're in love with, right when the person you're in love with happens to be distracted from trying to protect the Avatar.

Zuko has never really considered himself a martyr, but then he always finds himself doing unexpected things when it came to Katara.

Like throwing himself at Katara in order to protect her from a falling ceiling.

Zuko still wasn't sure what the worst part was. It was either the gash in his side from a rock hitting him, or the disappointed look on his sister's face when she noticed that rocks hadn't crushed Katara.

A few hours later, after Azula's attack on the temple, after Zuko had fought his sister and had practically fallen to his death, after half of them escaped on Appa and the other half on the war balloon, after they had made it to an inconspicuous spot off the coast, Katara would look him in the eye and say, "Thank you," very briskly. It was the first time she'd speak to him in almost two weeks.

Zuko readjusts the position of his head on his pillow, hoping that Sokka doesn't come bustling in any time soon. He'd like some time to himself. Just to think, really.

Shadows move across the side of the tent. One he recognizes immediately; it's _her _of course. The other is shorter and much snarkier. Must be Toph.

Toph deliberately stops right at the corner of his tent before pulling Katara further into their conversation.

He doesn't really know what they're talking about. He just closes his eyes and listens to Katara's voice.

* * *

><p>It's dinnertime. Zuko sits down near the fire along with everyone else and patiently waits for Katara to bring them their meals.<p>

She sets bowls gingerly down in front of Sokka, Suki and Aang. But when she reaches Zuko she practically throws his bowl onto the ground by his feet. Some stew slops out and splatters along his boots.

"Oops," she says, voice nonchalant as she places Toph's bowl down in front of her.

Zuko manages not to react. He picks up his bowl, ignores the snort from Toph, and quietly spoons some stew into his mouth.

And nearly spits it all back out.

It's salty. _Very _salty.

He subtly glances around at everyone else. Sokka is wolfing his down, no surprise, but Suki and Toph seem to be eating their's calmly.

Zuko knows that if their stew was even half as salty as his was then Toph would have something to say about it.

He lets out a quiet sigh before he eats another spoonful, barely letting it linger on his tongue before he swallows.

He suppresses a wince.

There's a soft tut from his right. He takes a breath and turns his head. Katara is giving a worried look. It's clearly fake.

"Something wrong with your stew, Zuko?" she asks innocently.

"Not at all," he replies coolly. He takes a large spoonful to illustrate his point.

"Well," Katara continues, unfazed, "if there _is _something wrong with it then you should just keep eating it."

"Is that so?"

"Definitely. After a while you'll just learn to love it, after all."

Zuko freezes. He should have expected that. He really should have.

Her animosity hurts him now as much as it did a week ago.

He almost says her name. Almost. But another apology would have followed her name and right now she won't _listen _to apologies.

He needs to figure out a way to _apologize _without actually saying he's sorry. That's the only way she'll _listen_, he thinks.

He sets his bowl down. He wasn't really hungry to begin with.

* * *

><p>Before Zuko can even awkwardly knock on the side of Toph's self-made rock tent, all four sides slam back down into the earth.<p>

And there's Toph, standing in the middle of her space and calmly picking at her fingernails.

"Sparky."

Zuko sighs. "I need to talk to Sokka."

The earthbender freezes in her fingernail picking, briefly thrown off. Then she shoots a spot around Zuko's shoulder a pointed look. "Now I realize that I _am_ blind, but I'm pretty sure that Sokka and I don't really look anything alike—"

"Toph, I need to _talk _to Sokka."

And then Toph understands. Realization lights up her face and she suddenly smirks. "It'll cost you."

Zuko came prepared. "I'll let you call me 'Sparky' all the time and I won't complain about it."

Toph rolls her eyes. "I already call you 'Sparky', Sparky, and if anything your complaining amuses me. Next offer."

"I'll let you throw rocks at me whenever you want."

Toph ponders that for a moment. "Tempting, but no. I can throw rocks at you anyway."

Zuko is starting to lose his patience. He takes a deep breath and releases it slowly in attempt not to shout.

"_Okay._ How about you pick a day and I'll… let you ride on my back."

Toph grins. "All day long?"

Zuko resists a groan. "All day long."

The earthbender shoves a fist into the air. "Alright, Sparky! Now we're talking." She turns around and begins to rummage through her small amount of possessions before standing back up and holding out a small, drawstring bag.

"Cinnamon drops," she explains. "You offer Sokka a couple of these bad boys and he'll tell you whatever you need to know."

Zuko takes the back and shoots her a grateful look before remembering that she can't see it.

"Thank you," he says. And then, after a beat, "Sometimes I think you're too devious for your own good."

Toph shrugs, looking perfectly at ease. "One of us in this group has to be."

* * *

><p>Zuko has noticed that in the past couple of weeks Sokka has started to be much more tolerant of him. Zuko suspects it might be because Katara's rage against him hasn't gone unnoticed and Sokka pities him. Or it could be the fancy maps.<p>

Probably the fancy maps.

Either way, sharing a tent with Sokka isn't really so bad. Sokka likes him enough to talk about war strategies and geek out over swords with him.

But that doesn't mean that Sokka _trusts _Zuko.

Which is why Zuko is walking into this battle armed.

"I want to talk to you about your sister."

Sokka, who had been inspecting his space sword for any speck of dust, stills and looks up at him cautiously. "Oh?"

Zuko shifts a little bit from his spot in their tent, slightly uncomfortable. "I was hoping you could help me."

Sokka blinks and sets his sword off to his side. "Well that's nice. I'm not gonna lie, an overwhelming wave of exhaustion has washed over me and I don't think I'm up for any deep conver—Are those cinnamon drops?"

Zuko is spreading the candy Toph gave him out in front of his lap. "I don't know, are they?"

Sokka stares at the drops, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. He pulls his hands up to his chest, obviously conflicted. "It's been so long since I've tasted the deliciousness of cinnamon drops…"

Zuko pops one into his mouth and makes loud crunching noises. Sokka whimpers.

Zuko only eats one more before Sokka gives in. "Okay, okay! Just—stop eating them and let me have one!" He waves his arms around dramatically before finally grabbing one and shoving it into his mouth. He makes a loud moaning noise and a goofy expression crosses over his face.

Zuko hopes that he never ever grows this attached to food.

He clears his throat and begins to gather the rest of the drops into his hands. "I'll just enjoy the rest of these." But then his eyes slowly shift back towards Sokka. "Unless, of course, you want more?"

From the look that comes to Sokka's face he knows he's been cornered. He shakes his head slowly before huffing, eyes on the drops the entire time. "What do you need to know?" he says dully.

Zuko, repressing smugness, pulls Katara's necklace out of his pocket and lays it across his blanket.

"Why is this important to Katara?"

* * *

><p>He's tired. He doesn't feel too good. The rock he's been sitting on all night is uncomfortable and he knows he looks like shit.<p>

But when Katara steps out from her tent and starts to comb her hair he thinks that it's going to be worth it. That it _is _worth it.

She spots him and freezes. Then, "You look terrible." She turns to walk away.

"I've been out here all night," he says softly. The morning sun catches her hair and face, and it's all so lovely that he doesn't even care that she's scowling at him.

Katara rolls her blue eyes and starts combing her hair again. But she doesn't walk away. "What do you want?"

He opens up his palm and lets the ribbon of her necklace slip between his fingers. He catches the ribbon right at the end so that the necklace dangles from his fingertips.

"You had me keep this," he states.

Katara's eyes widen slightly and then she flushes.

"I'm not exactly sure what me keeping this means," his continues, gaze sliding toward the ground, slightly awkward. "But I know what it meant to you before…"

He glances back up to see her eyebrows furrow in confusion, a frown on her face.

Before she can open her mouth to speak he says, "I know who killed your mother and I'm going to help you find him."

She drops the comb.

* * *

><p>Appa is saddled, Zuko's bag is packed, Katara is in the middle of gathering her things and the sun is beating down on the back of Zuko's neck.<p>

He's ready to go. He shifts his weight between his feet before grabbing a handful of hay. He's feeding Appa when the Avatar storms up, Sokka right behind him.

There's a whoosh of air and suddenly Zuko is flat on his back.

"You and Katara were just going to take Appa and leave without telling us?"

Zuko should have known that they wouldn't be able to leave without the Avatar throwing a hissy fit. He sits up, fingers clenching into the dirt for a moment before he stands, a small spark escaping from between his lips.

Interestingly enough the Savior of the World happens to be one of Zuko's least favorite people.

Katara straightens up, slinging her bag over her shoulder, before leveling her gaze on the Avatar. "Yes._ I_ was."

The Avatar frowns before shooting a furious look at Zuko. "But he's—"

"We're going to find the man who killed my mother." Zuko can hear the quivering rage in Katara's voice and apparently Sokka can as well. The water tribe boy takes a step forward, casting doubtful glances between his sister and Zuko. He doesn't say anything, oddly enough.

The Avatar opens his mouth again but Zuko cuts him off. "Sokka told me what happened with Katara's mother. I know who killed her and I know where we can find him."

The Avatar's eyes narrow. "I don't see what that's going to accomplish," he says, clearly frustrated.

Katara shakes her head before handing Zuko her bag. He tosses it up onto Appa's back with ease. "I knew you wouldn't understand," she says flatly.

The Avatar's face falls and he quickly moves forward, stepping between Katara and the bison. "No, Katara! I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think—"

"Did you really just compare you having your pet stolen to Katara having her mother _murdered?_" Zuko says pointedly. He feels anger begin to burn in his chest.

The Avatar is such a _child._

Panic is written clearly on the Avatar's face. He turns to Katara, eyes wide, but she merely steps around him.

"I need this, Aang," she says quietly. "This is about getting closure and justice."

The Avatar's face hardens somewhat and he casts a hateful look in Zuko's direction as if this is all _his _fault. "I don't think so. I think this is about getting revenge."

Katara snaps. "_Fine! _Maybe it _is _about getting revenge! Maybe revenge is what I _need. _But it will be nothing less than this man deserves." Her chest is heaving and Zuko can see that's she's shaking. He resists the urge to dart in front of Katara and block the Avatar's view of her. But he makes himself stay put.

"Katara," the Avatar says softly, "you sound like Jet."

Zuko's hands curl into fists.

The Avatar is asking for it.

He is fucking _asking for it._

_Fucking Jet._

Katara grits her teeth in anger. "That was different! Jet attacked the innocent, but this man, this man is a _monster_." Her voice is ice cold.

Sokka finally speaks up. "Katara, she was my mother too, but I don't think this is such a good idea…"

Katara whirls toward her brother. "Stay out of this!"

Sokka doesn't say anything, nor does he take a step back. He glances at Zuko and the two exchange a look. Zuko understands what it means.

_Bring her back._

The Avatar speaks up again. "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"That's cute." Zuko throws his bag up onto Appa. "It must be nice, not living in reality."

The Avatar narrows his eyes at him but Zuko ignores it. He's growing fed up with the preaching.

Katara places a hand on Appa's saddle before turning back to the Avatar. "Aang, now that I know he's out there, now that I know I can face him, I don't have a choice. I _have _to find him."

The Avatar shakes his head. "Katara, you _do _have a choice. Forgiveness."

It's Zuko's turn to snap. "You're one to talk about forgiveness." The Avatar hasn't exactly forgiven _him_ yet, either. "So spare us the hypocrisy, all right?"

As he says the words, Zuko half expects Katara to give him a disapproving look. He _is_ yelling at the Avatar, after all.

But he's surprised to see her glaring at the Avatar, not at him.

That might be a first.

He turns to Katara and gently places a hand on her shoulder. "Come on."

As they climb aboard Appa Zuko catches a glimpse of the Avatar's face. He looks shell-shocked and slightly guilty.

Then Sokka cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "You better have her back in four days! Any later and I will find you and disembowel you and I will _enjoy it!_"

"Fair enough," Zuko calls back, settling in the saddle. Katara sits on Appa's head, grabs the reins and calls _yip yip_.

They're off.

* * *

><p>It's times like these that Zuko wishes he hadn't given Haru his war balloon.<p>

War balloons don't shed, nor do they drop their _business _like bombs from the sky.

Zuko pities whoever is below them.

He shifts a bit in the saddle. He's tired (sleeping on a giant flying animal isn't very easy), and the tip of his nose and his cheeks are red from the whipping wind.

Even still, he crawls towards Appa's head.

"How are you—"

"We're almost there," she interrupts, not even bothering to turn her head back in his direction.

He frowns, but says nothing. They've already gone over what they're going to do when they arrive at the Fire Navy tower, and apologizing for the umpteenth time won't get him anywhere.

He scoots a little closer to Appa's head before pulling his legs up to his chest. He'll just have to wait.

Actions speak louder than words anyway.

* * *

><p>As Zuko sprints at a dead run towards Appa with Katara right on his heels, he can feel dawn coming.<p>

Adrenaline pumps through his system. He suspects that at any moment he'll hear shouting, or see fire blasting in their direction, but there is nothing. They got in and out of the tower as quietly as thieves.

"I'll steer Appa," he says, voice shallow like his breathing. But Katara bolts in front of him, grabs hold of Appa's saddle and hoists herself up and in one graceful move.

"I've got it," she exclaims, landing on the top of Appa's head and grabbing his reins. The bison lets out a deep rumble as Zuko heaves himself up onto the bison's back with a thud. His muscles ache and his heart is pounding in his chest.

"You were steering all yesterday—"

"I said I got it." She turns her head and looks at him briefly. There's a slight tilt to her mouth and her eyes gleam with feral determination that he's never seen in her before.

In the back of his mind he's somewhat reminded of his sister.

There's a lifting sensation and the ground starts to drift further and further away as they rise. Zuko thinks that maybe he should feel wary or apprehensive of what's coming.

But he doesn't.

* * *

><p>He had fallen asleep, which has been unplanned, and when he wakes up he sees her still steering Appa with the reins clinched tightly in her hands. Her knuckles are nearly white.<p>

"You should let me drive and get some rest," he says softly. "We'll be there soon."

She straightens her shoulders and her spine stiffens in stubbornness. "Don't you worry about my strength." Her voice is strained.

He doesn't have to see her face to know that there are dark circles under her blue eyes.

There's a sharp intake of breath. "I'm not helpless anymore. Not this time."

Zuko frowns, but leans against the side of Appa's saddle in silence. He watches her back and picks at a lose thread in his black pants. He doesn't expect her to say anything else.

But she does. She starts to tell him about what happened to her mother.

The sadness in her voice weaves around him and constricts him because he knows. He _knows. _

For a moment he can almost feel the downy feathers of baby turtle ducks against his fingertips.

He watches Katara's head start to tilt down, sees her fingers brush against her throat where her mother's necklace normally sits.

She stops speaking.

"Your mother was a brave woman," he finally says.

"I know," she answers.

Zuko likes to think that perhaps his mother was too.

* * *

><p>Being completely underwater with only an air bubble surrounding Appa's head is somewhat terrifying for Zuko. The fact that Katara is a master waterbender doesn't make him feel much better either.<p>

He's not one hundred percent sure she wouldn't let him drown.

Then he sees a couple of soldiers sinking into the water from above them because of Katara's water whips and then Appa is diving under the ship in order to get to the other side.

Zuko twists his shaking fingers into Appa's fur.

Then they're out of the water and huge waves crash onto the deck, sending soldiers swimming overboard.

Appa lands on the deck and Zuko and Katara are off, feet pounding against metal. A lone soldier who managed to cling to the deck sends fire at them and before Zuko can bend to counteract it a tunnel of water cuts of the attack.

He glances over at Katara. There are tears in her eyes.

Then they're rushing down stairs into the lower decks, flying down corridors and looking for the correct door.

A door to a storage room opens up and a soldier brandishing a sword charges out of it toward them.

Zuko darts forward, grabs and twists the soldiers arm and throws him back into the storage room. Then he slams the door shut and slides the sword into the door handles.

He turns to Katara and they continue on until they find the correct door.

She stops in front of it, arms coated in water and chest heaving with emotion and adrenaline. Zuko stops beside her, shoulder to shoulder. "Katara, are you ready for this?"

There's a slight moment of hesitation and then she lets out a scream of rage before sending a rush of water at the door. It bursts open, revealing the captain.

There's a wave of fire but Zuko catches it and disperses it.

"Who are you?" the captain asks, staggering backward a couple of steps. He glares at both of them.

"You don't remember her?" Zuko takes on a fighting stance, a cold feeling freezing in the pit of this stomach. "You will."

He shoves his fist forward and sends a stream of fire at the captain who blocks it. The captain moves into a bending stance.

But then he stills. The captain's arms twist at an unnatural angle and Zuko hears a bone snap. There's a groan of pain as the man's knees begin to wobble.

"What's…what's _happening?_" he gasps, finally falling onto his knees. His body twists some more and then he's bent over, head almost touching the floor. His helmet slips off. "What's happening to me?"

With wide eyes Zuko turns his gaze towards Katara. She's in a strange bending stance, one he's never seen before, with her arms out and her fingers curling in the air. There's an unnaturally satisfied smile on her face.

Somewhat sickened, Zuko realizes exactly what she's doing. He feels the blood drain from his face.

For a moment Zuko isn't sure what to do. This is wrong. There is no _honor _in this.

But then he remembers _his_ Katara crying in a cave over the mother she never got to know. Over the mother that this man took away from her.

The cold feeling spreads from his stomach to his chest.

He turns his head back towards the captain and narrows his eyes. "Think back," he says, voice steely. "Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."

The captain is huddled on the floor. "I don't know!" His ankle starts to turn in the wrong direction. "_Please! _I don't know!"

The cold feeling spreads from his chest to his heart. Zuko kneels next to the captain's head. "Don't lie! You look her in the eye and tell me you don't remember what you did!" he growls.

The captain lets out a sob of terror as his head is lifted up against his will. Katara stares down at him with a snarl. But then her face softens.

"It's not him." Her hands drop and the captain falls back onto the floor. She turns her head away somberly.

"What do you mean it's not him?" Zuko can feel Katara's forgiveness slipping away like water between his fingers. "He's the leader of the Southern Raiders!"

"It's not him," she repeats dully and walks out of the room.

The cold feeling spreads from his heart to his eyes and Zuko is blinded by anger.

He grabs the captain by the cusp of his neck, yanks him up and shoves him against the wall.

"If you're not the man we're looking for then who is?"

The captain lets out a cry of pain. "Yon Rha! You're looking for Yon Rha! He retired four years ago!"

Satisfied, Zuko lets the captain go. He sinks back down onto the floor.

Out in the corridor Katara is crying. Zuko puts a hand against the small of her back and leads her forward.

* * *

><p>Later, when they're both back in the sky on top of Appa and the cold feeling has melted away, Zuko has to lean over the side of Appa's saddle to throw up three times.<p>

It has nothing to do with motion sickness.

* * *

><p>They find Yon Rha in a lackluster village not too far from where the Southern Raiders had been located.<p>

"It's going to rain," Zuko observes softly, eyes looking up at the graying sky.

Katara's mouth sets in a thin, determined line. "Good."

The first place they hide is in a closed tea shop. Zuko peers out the window, studying the man who they think might be their target.

He ducks low when the suspected Yon Rha turns around and peers in their direction.

"We're going to have to be careful," he whispers. Katara nods stiffly, fingers curling over the window sill. She hasn't looked out of it yet.

The man leaves the marketplace and instead of following behind him Zuko suggests they cut through a gathering of trees along the side of the road and set a trap for him.

They string black thread between two rocks before climbing up an elevated side of the road. They wait, and when the man comes into view Katara leans forward eagerly.

"That's him. That's the monster." Her hands tighten into fists and Zuko places a hand against her knee to keep her from barging forward. She relaxes slightly, eyes never leaving Yon Rha.

Raindrops begin to fall.

Then the man stops. "No one sneaks up on me," he exclaims, whirling around and lighting a bush on fire.

Zuko and Katara quietly get down from their perch.

And then Yon Rha is turning and tripping over the trap they had set up for him. He lands face first into a puddle of mud and before he can stand up Zuko is sending a jet of fire at him. Yon Rha scrambles backwards, startled.

"We weren't behind the bush." The cold feeling returns, but Zuko doesn't care. He moves into a firebending form, and glares down at the coward in front of him.

He _hates _him. "I wouldn't try firebending again either."

Yon Rha shields his face. "Whoever you are, take my money, take everything! I'm willing to cooperate!"

Katara steps around Zuko, rage etched into her face. "Do you know who I am?"

Yon Rha's eyes widen fearfully. "No," he splutters. "I'm… I'm not sure."

"You better remember me like your life depends on it. _Because it does_." For a moment Zuko could swear that it is Katara who can spit fire, not him. "Take a closer look."

For a moment the man just stares at her. And then he looks somewhat shocked. And nauseous. "Yes, I remember you now. You're the little girl from the Southern Water Tribe. Your mother was the last waterbender."

Zuko feels a twinge of surprise. He glances at Katara.

Something in her has broken; he can see that by the expression on her face. Tears leak out of her eyes and mix in with raindrops on her cheeks.

"She lied to you," she says sadly. "She was protecting the last waterbender."

Yon Rha looks shocked. "Wh-Who?"

Then Katara whirls at him with more pure malice and fury. "_ME!_"

She starts to bend with an emotion that Zuko has never seen in her before: murderous hatred. Rain water closes around them before she freezes it and separates it into tiny shards of deadly ice. Then she moves her arms in an arc and sends the ice shards flying towards Yon Rha, who does nothing but cower in the mud.

Zuko thinks that it's fitting for cowards with no honor to die in the mud. And he won't even have to deal with the body. He'll just let him rot here in the middle of the road like he deserves.

But then the ice shards stop and hover just inches away from Yon Rha. His eyes are squeezed shut, waiting for impact, but when the impact doesn't come he opens them. Then he clings onto Katara's hesitation.

"I did a bad thing! I know I did and you deserve your revenge! So…so why don't you take my mother? That'd be fair, right?"

Katara's upper lip curls into a snarl. "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing, and now I think I understand." The hovering ice shards start to tremble. "There's just nothing inside of you. _Nothing._ You're pathetic and empty."

"Please spare me!" Yon Rha begs.

"I _hate _you," Katara spits. "So much. But…" The ice shards melt pack into water and pelt the ground. "I just can't do it."

Her upper lip wobbles and Zuko hears Katara sniff as she turns around and walks off.

Zuko sees Yon Rha smiling weakly to himself. Then, without a second thought, Zuko moves forward and kicks Yon Rha hard in the ribs. Then again. And another time.

Then he turns around and follows Katara into the trees.

* * *

><p>Rain falls on their little campsite. Appa is asleep and Katara is huddled against his side, knees pulled up against her chest and face resting on top of them.<p>

She's been crying since they left Yon Rha. Zuko has made sure to give her her space, but right now he needs to make sure she's taken care of.

He walks up to her and sits down beside her. He wordlessly hands her a bit of beef jerky and some soggy bread that had been in his bag. She takes it and chews in silence. Zuko would bet that she probably couldn't even taste it. He watches her swallow.

"Do you think I made the right decision?" she asks. He stills because he hadn't been expecting her to speak.

"What do you mean?"

She looks up at him and catches his gaze. Her eyes are red and she looks so tired. "Do you think I did the right thing? Not killing Yon Rha?"

Zuko props an elbow on his knee and glances down at the jerky in his hand. "I think you did what was best for you."

"I wanted to do it. I wanted to so badly. And part of me wonders if I couldn't kill him because I was strong enough not to or because I was too weak to do what needed to be done."

Her face crumbles and her shoulders shake in silent sobs. Zuko can feel something breaking a little bit inside of him at the sight.

He scoots right up to her, not really caring if she hasn't forgiven him yet, and wraps an arm around her waist, gently pulling her against him. She complies and molds herself against the side of his body, hands fisting into the fabric of his shirt as she cries into his shoulder.

They sit like that for a long time. He slowly traces circles against her hip in an attempt to soothe her.

Finally she pulls away, but keeps her head resting against his shoulder. "What will you do?"

"Hmm?"

"When you face your mother's killer, what will you do?"

Zuko is quiet for a long moment. "I'm not sure," he lies.

After a time her body weight settles against him and then she's asleep. Zuko sits awake for the rest of the night and watches raindrops glisten in the moonlight.

* * *

><p>The next morning Katara asks to look at his side before they load up Appa.<p>

He lifts up his shirt and shows her. Katara gasps. "Sokka had said it looked bad but…"

Zuko shrugs. In all honesty he had forgotten about the pain in his side. Well, he had forgotten about most physical pain for that matter.

She pulls water towards her hands and takes a hesitant step forward, eyes beseeching. "If you want to I can—"

He lets his shirt fall back into place and shakes his head. "That's okay. Thanks anyway, though."

She bites her lips and nods, slightly confused.

Actually, now that Zuko thought about it, his side felt better than it had a few days ago.

Sometimes it's best to let things heal on their own, he thinks.

* * *

><p>His family's old home on Ember Island looks the same as it did ten years ago. Zuko suspects that that's why his chest aches.<p>

After spending a solid twenty minutes assuring Sokka that absolutely no harm had come to a single hair on his sister's head, Zuko walks off to find said sister.

He spots her sitting on the edge of the port talking to the Avatar. Zuko sighs and quietly approaches them.

"I'm proud of you," he overhears the Avatar saying.

He sees Katara shrug, sees her tilt her head back a bit and look at him.

"I'm still not sure if I did the right thing," she says, and Zuko isn't sure if she's talking to him or the Avatar.

"You did the right thing," the Avatar assures her. "Forgiveness is the first step we take in the process of healing."

Katara's face falls and she quickly stands up. "But I didn't forgive him, Aang. I'll _never _forgive him. That I know for _sure _is the right thing."

She bites her lip and steps up to Zuko. "But, I think I'm ready to forgive _you_."

Something hot builds in the back of his throat. "I'm _so _sorry, Katara. You know I don't think like that anymore—"

But before he can say anything else Katara closes the space between them and slips her arms around his neck, her nose brushing against his chin. Zuko returns the embrace and pulls her up against him, the side of his face presses against her hair. He has to resist the urge to bend down and kiss her.

She tilts her head to the side and whispers into his ear, "Thank you." He shudders.

When she pulls back, only keeping one hand on his shoulder, she looks up at him with a gentle smile. There's something in the expression in her eyes and the pull of her lips that makes Zuko feel almost shy.

Then she lets her hand fall away from his shoulder and walks away. Zuko turns around and watches her go, feeling an odd sense of peace.

There's a clearing of a throat behind him. "Zuko, can I, uh, talk to you?"

Zuko sighs and turns back around to face the Avatar. "Sure."

The boy takes a few steps forward and opens and closes his mouth a couple of times. "I… You brought Katara back," he finally states.

"I did."

"And she's okay."

"She is." Zuko frowns.

The Avatar looks unsure. He rubs the back of his bald head and looks at a point over Zuko's shoulder.

Zuko is growing impatient. "Look, Avatar—"

"Thank you," the Avatar blurts out. "Thank you for bringing Katara back."

Zuko almost scoffs but nods anyway. He turns to walk away but the Avatar continues.

"I've thought about what happened the other day. About forgiveness."

Zuko frowns.

The Avatar visibly gulps. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being hypocritical."

Zuko lets himself smirk slightly. "You're forgiven."

The Avatar winces. "It's just, I haven't been very nice to you since you've come here, even though you've been teaching me firebending and all. But, it's just I've been so _angry _with you because of what happened back at Ba Sing Se." The Avatar looks somewhat guilty. "And the thing is I'm _still _mad at you."

The Avatar looks up at him, eyes filled with clarity. "I don't think I'm ready to forgive you just yet, but… maybe… maybe we can be nicer to each other?" he offers hopefully.

Zuko lifts a shoulder halfheartedly. "Sure, Avatar."

"It's Aang," the Avatar corrects. "It's… my name is Aang."

Zuko blinks. "Sure… Aang."

* * *

><p>The next morning he's unceremoniously woken up with his face being smacked by a pillow.<p>

"Guess what today is?" Toph exclaims in excitement.

Zuko groans.

"Today is the day that you, Sparky, gets to carry me, Toph, around on your back _all day!_"

Somewhere outside of his room Zuko can hear Katara laughing.


	11. The Fourth Wall

**_The Fourth Wall_**  
><em>(or, The Ember Island Players)<em>

_**Summary**_: The Gaang goes to see a play about themselves... and no one likes what they discover.

_**Note**_: FFn HTML is extremely limiting. It is in fact _so_ limiting that this chapter is impossible to read in FFn format. So unfortunately, in order to see this part (and it's an important one!), you'll need to go to the far more versatile LJ location:

**http (colon-slash-slash) bit (period) ly (slash) Lc18ru  
><strong>

Sorry for the inconvenience, but your eyes will thank me.


	12. Aang and the Avatar

_**A/N**: Ooh. Philosophy. My favorite. Just for the record, I'm not personally arguing in any one direction; I'm just describing the positions I think the characters would take._

_This takes place immediately before Of Edged Weapons and Eavesdropping (Chapter Four)._

* * *

><p><em><strong><span>Aang and the Avatar<span>**_

* * *

><p><em>We must as second best, as people say, take the least of the evils.<strong><br>Aristotle, "Nichomachean Ethics"**_

* * *

><p>"I AM <em>MELON LORD!<em>"

The plan goes off without a hitch. Sokka and Suki attack from the left, drawing Toph's flaming boulders. Zuko and Katara take out rock soldiers with their strange hybrid attacks that blur the line between fire and water. Aang creeps in unnoticed from the right, then runs, then leaps...

...and then...

...and then...

"What are you waiting for? Take him out!"

Aang stares at the Melon Lord, then drops his eyes quickly. Even facing a _fruit_feels wrong, let alone...

"I can't," he says hoarsely. "I can't do it."

* * *

><p><strong>Giatsu said<strong>:

_All life is sacred, even the life of the tiniest spider-fly caught in its own web. _

* * *

><p>There is no conversation as Katara passes out the evening meal. Aang accepts his without a word, and wonders if the fruit slices on his plate are the ones Sokka sliced from the Melon Lord's head.<p>

It is finally the one made of fire who breaks the tense silence by throwing his bowl to the ground. The porcelain shatters against the stone steps. "This is _ridiculous!_" Zuko yells as he jumps to his feet, and his shadow casts over Aang. "You _have to do it!_ You _know_you have to!"

Katara's sigh is louder than Zuko's shout, somehow. "Zuko-"

"No. He's right." Sokka is as cold as Aang has ever heard him; it's easy to forget, sometimes, that he came from the South Pole too. "There's no point in pretending. Aang has to kill Ozai and that's that."

Aang ponders for a moment that this is the first time Sokka and Zuko have been on the same side in over a week. At least he's bringing people together. That's the duty of the Avatar, after all.

"Ozai's a human being," Aang mumbles.

"Barely," says Sokka.

* * *

><p><strong>Roku says<strong>:

_In my life, I tried to be disciplined and show restraint - but it backfired when Fire Lord Sozin took advantage of my restraint and mercy. If I had been more decisive and acted sooner, I could have stopped Sozin and stopped the war before it started._

_I offer you this wisdom, Aang: You must be decisive._

* * *

><p>Aang sets aside his dinner. He wasn't hungry to begin with, but now if he eats he's sure he'll get sick. "There's gotta be another way," he says. He looks up warily. Zuko and Sokka glower; Suki frowns; Toph stares sightlessly into space. "There's got to be a way to stop him without killing him."<p>

"There's not." Suki's voice is flat.

"But-"

"What did you think was going to happen? Did you think no one would die?"

"No-"

"Did you think you could just glide over it all while everyone else got their hands dirty?" It is clearly not Suki the Friend talking; it is Suki the Kyoshi Warrior, and she is frightening. "All of us have to take lives in the next few days. You too. You don't get a pass just because you're a monk."

Aang flushes. The shame pulls his heart into his toes, but it doesn't change anything. "It goes against everything the Airbenders taught me," he says.

"Tough," says Suki. "It's war."

* * *

><p><strong>Bumi said<strong>:

_Sooner or later, you'll have to strike back._

* * *

><p>"Look," says Toph. Her feet dig into the steps, and she is more serious than Aang has ever seen her. "It's not like you're killing him for revenge or anything. I mean, <em>that<em>would be really wrong."

Aang shakes his head. "It's still killing."

"But it's saving a lot of lives in the progress," she argues. "The Fire Lord's about to wipe out everyone in Ba Sing Se. If he isn't stopped... that's the biggest city in the world. _Millions_of people, Aang."

If Toph isn't calling him 'Twinkletoes', then she means business.

"But what if I can find a way to stop him that won't kill him?" Aang raises his hands helplessly. "I mean... there has to be _something_, right? Something we just haven't thought of yet..."

Toph just shakes her head.

* * *

><p><strong>Kyoshi says<strong>:

_In my day, Chin the Conqueror threatened to throw the World out of balance. I stopped him and the world entered a great era of peace._

But you didn't really kill Chin. Technically he fell to his own doom because he was too stubborn to get out of the way.

_Personally, I don't really see the difference. But I assure you, I would have done whatever it took to stop Chin._

_I offer you this wisdom, Aang: Only justice will bring peace._

* * *

><p>Zuko takes a very deep breath, and when he exhales the smell of smoke fills the courtyard. "Okay," he says. "Okay. Listen to me. You need to understand about the Fire Nation. Killing... it's different there."<p>

Aang shakes his head. "Death is the same everywhere."

"_No_, it's not. Not everyone believes the way Airbenders do."

Aang thinks things would be better if everyone did.

"In the Fire Nation," Zuko says, "there are duels of honor called Agni Kai. You know about those, right?" At Aang's nod, Zuko continues, "You fight until one side yields. And sometimes that's it and it's over. But for the really big things, the person who loses dies."

Faces pale. "Really?" says Katara.

"Really. And it's okay. The defeated foe acknowledges his loss, and the victor takes the loser's head and that restores the foe's honor. It's an act of respect."

" Wow. That's... kind of messed up," says Toph. "Even for the Fire Nation."

Zuko waves his hand dismissively. "Debate it later. The point is, Aang, you're basically fighting an Agni Kai with a _Fire Lord_. You'll be showing _mercy _by killing Ozai. Defeating him and then forcing him live in dishonor and shame is much worse in the eyes of the Fire Nation. No one will expect you to leave him alive."

"There," Sokka says decisively. "Even the guy's son is telling you to lop his head off. You're in the clear, Aang."

Zuko looks away.

* * *

><p><strong>Wan Shi Tong said<strong>:

_You think you're the first person to believe their war was justified?_

* * *

><p>Aang knows he shouldn't just keep asking until he gets an answer he likes, but... "What if I can't do it? I've never taken a life before."<p>

"Yes, you have."

Everyone turns to look at Katara. "When?" Aang demands.

"At the North Pole. You killed Zhao, and the people in those ships."

Aang winces. The memories of that terrible night are murky, but... "I didn't do it on purpose, though. I was in the Avatar State. That wasn't me."

"Exactly," says Katara. Her gaze is sad but steady. "Aang, maybe _you_ can't take a life... but the Avatar can."

Aang's voice rises. "So you think I should do it, too? You think I should just _kill Ozai?_"

Katara's eyes fill with tears, and Zuko shoots Aang a murderous look. "I think there are terrible things in the world," she says quietly. She looks down at her fingers, which crook and twist together. "There are things that _no one_ should ever do. I'm just... not sure that killing is one of them."

"How can you _say _that?" He thought for sure that Katara, at least, would be on his side...

"If you enter the Avatar State," Katara says, "you can do it. And Aang... you know what you have to do for that."

Aang's heart sinks.

* * *

><p><strong>Kuruk says<strong>:

_When I was young, I was always a "go with the flow" kind of Avatar. People seemed to work out their own problems, and there was peace and good times in the world._

_But then I lost the woman I loved to Koh the Face Stealer. It was my fault; if I had been more attentive and more active, I could have saved her._

_Aang, you must actively shape your own destiny, and the destiny of the world._

* * *

><p>After that, everyone leaves him alone.<p>

Aang walks the beach and watches how the waves push in and pull out in an endless cycle. Momo trots along besides him, and Aang takes comfort in his furry presence. The lemur is, like he and Appa, the last link to a civilization that died long ago.

Maybe the Airbending philosophy died with the Airbenders themselves.

"What do you think I should do, Momo?" Aang asks, glancing down.

Momo tilts his head to the side and chitters in an uncertain sort of way.

"Would you do it?" Aang persists. He comes to a stop and his feet sink a little into the wet sand. "Would you kill Ozai? I mean, if you weren't twelve inches tall?"

There is a long, serious pause as Momo seems to consider the question - then he turns, grooms a flea from his fur, and eats it.

Aang sighs. "You're not a vegetarian. You don't understand."

* * *

><p><strong>Iroh said<strong>:

_It is a very difficult thing, for a man to change his view of the world. You are seeing life in terms of good and bad, right and wrong, success and failure. That is a rigid stance that will only lead you to defeat again and again._

* * *

><p>He goes to Appa and buries his face in the sky bison's side. The warm fur comforts him, as it has since he was young.<p>

_Is _he young? Everyone else seems to think he is. He doesn't feel it, though; there are thousands of years pulsing through his veins. But then, at other times, he just wants to play and jump and run as far away from all of this as he can possibly go. Past the very last volcano of the Fire Nation, into the endless uncharted oceans beyond until he runs out of energy and skims across the sea.

"What do you think, Appa?" he asks, his voice muffled.

Appa just rumbles.

Aang wonders if the real reason he doesn't want to do it is because _Zuko _thinks he should.

* * *

><p><strong>Yangchen says<strong>:

_I know that you're a gentle spirit, and the monks have taught you well. But this isn't about you; this is about the world._

But the monks taught me that I had to detach myself from the world so my spirit could be free.

_Many great and wise air nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment. But the Avatar can never do it, because your sole duty is to the world._

_Here is my wisdom for you: Selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the world._

* * *

><p>He knows he shouldn't hate. It goes against everything the monks taught him. It goes against everything <em>everyone<em> has taught him, even the ones who think it's his duty to take lives.

He's trying. He really is. He thinks maybe he's getting better. It really takes too much energy to be furious every minute of every day. And as his rage has lowered to simmering resentment, his bending has improved. He hardly ever sets himself on fire anymore.

The ancient voices inside him whisper that maybe he hates Zuko out of habit.

But Zuko took Katara.

The Fire Nation has taken everything Aang ever loved.

It is easier to focus on being angry at Zuko than it is to focus on what is coming, what everyone says he's going to have to do, even though they all seem to have completely different reasons that don't mesh together at all and yet somehow all arrive at the same conclusion even though it doesn't make sense and it's not _fair_, Aang thinks. It _isn't_. The world shouldn't be like this, and isn't the Avatar supposed to change the world?

Even if the other Avatars couldn't?

* * *

><p><strong>Pathik says<strong>:

_You cannot lie about your own nature. You must accept that you are the Avatar._

* * *

><p>When Aang returns to the house he sets up on the balcony and tries to meditate. Momo sits curled at his side; he listens to the lemur's steady rise and fall of breath, listens to the crackle of the altar candles, listens to the wind rustling the trees. But he also listens to the argument down the hall.<p>

"He's not going to do it."

"Yes, he will. You don't know Aang like I do. He has... trouble sometimes, but he always does the right thing in the end. Give him time."

"We don't _have_ time! He's not going to do it, so we need to figure out something else. _Now._"

Aang focuses on the air. He pulls each breath in, touches it for a moment, strokes it on its way out. The tiny flickering heat of the candles warms his face.

"Aang's been through a lot, Zuko, all right? It's not easy for him-"

"Are you kidding? It's easier for _him_ than it is for anyone else! Why should _he_ get out of it when the rest of us can't? It's not like _he_ has to help kill his father!"

A long silence, followed by a soft, "Oh, Zuko..."

"I'm going to bed." And a slamming door.

Aang clears his mind and releases this world until he falls asleep.

In his dreams, he feels the call of an island.

* * *

><p><strong>The Lion-Turtle says<strong>:

_The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can touch the poison of hatred without being harmed. Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void... but always yields to purifying light._

_Wait for him. He will come._

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: Yeah, Zuko's position is a very, very, **very** rough bastardization of the samurai codes of honor, which are obviously way more complex (and interesting!) than presented here. But canon Fire Nation honor seems to more-or-less draw from Bushido, so... there ya go._

_There's gonna be a break for a little while, in that I'm doing the whole NaNoWriMo thing and will thusly be occupied for a month. My intention had been to finish the entire fic up before November hit, but it would have meant that the ending wouldn't get the attention it deserved. We'll be done by Christmas, though, I swear it ;)_

_Side note: The amazing **TheAvatarxpotter** made a vid based somewhat on the first chapter of this fic. I nearly died of unspeakable squee when I saw. Check it out on YouTube:_

**youtube (dot) com (slash) watch?v (=) TKQFjTDtkF8**_  
><em>


	13. A Man of the Sea

**_A/N_**_: This comes immediately after The Teachings of Tea (Chapter Six), Highly Modifiable Strategies of Sister-Rescuing (Chapter Eight), and Ling (Chapter Nine)._

* * *

><p><em><strong>A Man of the Sea<strong>_

* * *

><p>Hakoda was at sea for two and a half years.<p>

He knew what he had to do. The Southern Water Tribe had to be avenged. No full frontal assault could be attempted, of course, but shipping lanes could be sabotaged, coastal strongholds could be damaged. The men were unanimous in their decision to go.

The women pleaded from them to stay, but being a man is knowing where you are needed.

Every Waterbender in the Tribe had been taken, save one. The Fire Nation would not return for his daughter. Hakoda would see to that.

He did not realize how much he would miss while he was gone.

* * *

><p>Sokka sits cross-legged in the grass and pores over the maps again and again and again, the high noon sun beating down on him. He hasn't moved for hours.<p>

"He should rest," Hakoda says, watching his son. He is torn somewhere between worry and gratification, which seems to be his constant state of being with regards to Sokka since they've been reunited. "He's not going to learn anything new."

Toph snorts in a very unladylike fashion. "Never step between Snoozles and his maps," she says through a mouthful of rice, "unless you want a boomerang up your butt."

Hakoda frowns, but reluctantly acquiesces to the strange little girl who knows his boy better than he does.

The Day of Black Sun is tomorrow. The sky bison Appa had delivered the General, the Avatar, the tiny Earthbender, the Kyoshi Warrior, Hakoda, and his son to the Black Cliffs three days earlier. The ships for the invasion are due to arrive any time now; Iroh had expressed some concern on the subject, but Hakoda has understood the tides and the winds since he was old enough to paddle a canoe. The men will arrive on schedule.

If anyone had told him three months ago that he would be planning an invasion of the Fire Nation with the Dragon of the West, Hakoda would have laughed himself sick.

Suki sits near Sokka, occasionally speaking and pointing at some particular part of a map. Sokka doesn't seem to mind interruptions from _her_.

"How did that happen, exactly?" Hakoda asks, looking at the two of them.

Toph snorts again, and the expression on her face turns a bit sour. "I wasn't there for most of it. You'll have to ask Twinkletoes. Not that he'll answer."

Hakoda glances at the Avatar, who is a hundred feet away, practicing firebending with Iroh - to what looks like only a mediocre degree of success. Aang hasn't been answering much of anything since he was told what happened at the Boiling Rock.

No one has said very much at all since that day.

Hakoda fights down a cold rage. He gave up two and a half years of his life for nothing. The Fire Nation took his daughter after all.

She will be avenged.

"So, Blackbeard," says Toph. There's rice stuck to her chin and she doesn't seem to care. "Give it to me straight. Are we all gonna die tomorrow, or what?"

Hakoda blinks. "You're an extremely morbid little girl."

"Nah, just realistic. We're buying Aang time to take down Ozai, but after eight minutes all the Firebenders are gonna have their flaming fists back. And we'll be stuck in the middle of the Capital when that happens."

"It's not a suicide mission," Hakoda assures her. "As soon as the eclipse is over, we'll retreat. Don't worry. You're going to get out of there alive."

The children will, anyway.

"Whatever you say, Blackbeard." Toph takes another bite of rice. "But I know the truth, and so does everyone else. Won't do you any good to act like we don't."

Hakoda shakes his head. Children shouldn't be thinking about things like this.

* * *

><p>By the time evening arrives, even Hakoda is getting nervous. If the ships have fallen prey to some misfortune...<p>

"It's okay," Sokka says. He's finally put away the maps, at least, but he still looks exhausted; the way he rubs his eyes reminds Hakoda of how he would practice with his boomerang until he fell asleep in the snow. "If something happened to the invasion force, we'll just go with the original plan."

"Original plan?" Iroh says, sipping at whatever tea Iroh sips at.

"We forget about the eclipse, get out of here, and Aang masters all four elements before Sozin's Comet arrives." Sokka shrugs. "It doesn't have the same advantages 'cause the Fire Lord will be at full strength, but it'll have to do."

"Or we could attack tomorrow no matter what," Aang mutters. He pokes at the embers. "I don't want to use firebending anyway."

Sokka frowns. Toph smacks her forehead. Iroh sighs.

Suki is the one who says briskly, "Let's not look for a tsunami before there's an earthquake. As long as everyone's here by the morning, the invasion can go forward." Then she nudges Sokka and stands. "C'mon. I'm gonna knock your Space Sword into next week."

Hakoda watches as Sokka's face lights into one of the few genuine smiles he's seen recently. "You're on, Warrior Girl."

Toph stands as well and kicks the Avatar in the side. "Earthbending practice," she says. "Just because you don't have to firebend tomorrow doesn't mean you get out of boulder-chucking."

Aang doesn't smile, but he follows obediently nonetheless.

The children disperse and Iroh turns to Hakoda. "Tea?"

Hakoda shakes his head. He watches as his son spars with the Kyoshi girl, wielding his sword with a skill and strange sort of grace that Hakoda had never imagined. Pride fills up his chest. "He's a fine warrior," he says to Iroh. "Somehow he became a man while I wasn't looking."

"Sons do that," says Iroh. "But be careful before telling him that being a warrior is what makes him a man. You might come to regret it."

Hakoda glances at the General, puzzled, but Iroh only takes another sip of tea.

* * *

><p>The night is rent by another screaming nightmare from the Avatar, and Hakoda is once again impressed by the severity of the situation. The fate of the entire world rests on a small boy who is suffering from hallucinations of his sky bison and his winged lemur having duels of honor.<p>

Hakoda wishes they had another week, another month, another year to prepare for this day.

Still, if wishes were turtle seals, everyone would swim.

* * *

><p>A fog begins to roll in from the horizon at dawn, and Hakoda releases a breath it feels as though he's held for a lifetime. "They're here," he calls.<p>

"Oh, good," Sokka says as he climbs out his sleeping bag. "Today would've been kinda difficult otherwise."

Iroh wakes and stretches. "Beautiful sunrise, isn't it?" he says lightly, as though this is any other morning, rather than the day he'll invade his own homeland. Hakoda has spent quite a bit of time with the Dragon of the West at this point and still doesn't understand what is going on in the old man's head. For that matter, he isn't sure he wants to.

"Yo! Twinkletoes! Up and at 'em!" Toph flicks a small stone at the Avatar's head; he rolls off of Appa's tail with a groan. Hakoda is alarmed to see the dark circles under the boy's eyes. But it is too late now to back out.

The climb down to the beach would be a perilous one if Toph hadn't merely carved a stone staircase into the cliffside with a stomp of her foot. "Toph," says Sokka, "you're awesome."

"I know," says Toph, and Hakoda doesn't miss her small smile. This is not the time for personal concerns, but Hakoda likes both the little Earthbender _and_ the no-nonsense Kyoshi Warrior, and hopes no trouble comes of that.

It takes no more than fifteen minutes for purple sails to appear out of the fog. Earthbending raises docks from beneath the water, and as the ships pull in Hakoda feels an ease he hasn't experienced in quite awhile. His place is not soaring on a sky bison. His place is on these ships, making war against the enemies of the Water Tribe.

And he will do that today.

Bato is the first one onto the dock; indeed, he all but leaps from deck. "Chief! Chief, you are not going to _believe_ this-"

"Were you able to locate everyone I wanted you to find?" Sokka jumps in. Hakoda gives him a sharp look for interrupting his elder, but Sokka doesn't seem to notice. He is focused.

"Even _better _than you wanted," Bato says. "Invasion's gonna have to be cancelled, though."

"Wait, what?"

"Are you kidding?"

"Why?"

Bato wears a grin wider than any Hakoda has ever seen. "Better ask my hitchhiker." And Bato points up on deck. Hakoda looks...

...and his heart stops.

It's Kya.

It's _Kya_.

It's Kya standing on the ship, Kya waving frantically, Kya returned from the grave-

"_KATARA!_"

She doesn't even get a chance to get off the ship. The Avatar zooms from where he stands as Sokka and Toph bolt up the ramp and then there is a shouting, crying mess of arms and legs clinging to each other on the bow while Hakoda stares in shock, beyond words, beyond emotions.

"Well," says Iroh. And he doesn't say anything else.

Bato claps Hakoda on the back.

It takes several minutes before anyone leaves the ship. Finally the figure in purple descends the ramp - apparently only able to disentangle herself because the people clinging to her have started hugging whoever else they can reach - and comes to stand in front of him. A young woman, short but straight-backed, with loose hair to her waist and red-rimmed blue eyes.

It's not Kya, but it can't be the little girl Hakoda left in the ice. He hasn't been gone that long. It isn't possible.

"Hi, Dad," the young woman says. "Bad news: the Fire Nation knows you're coming."

And she hugs him.

* * *

><p>The children are like steamed rice buns, all melded together by the fire. His son has pushed the others aside for the nearest spot to Katara, and Hakoda is happy to see how close his children are, even as they bicker with each other. The Avatar is stuck to Katara's other side, and Toph has all but climbed into his daughter's lap.<p>

Katara's joyful expression is Kya's, too.

Hakoda may not have seen his daughter in a long time, but he still remembers how talented she is at redirecting conversations when she does not want to give up information. When she was little, whenever she was in trouble, somehow she was always able to get him talking about how to build seamless paddles. Hakoda sees her employing the same technique now, and Sokka and Toph and Aang have all shared their stories of the last few months before Katara says a word about _her_ missing time.

As Sokka draws a breath in between his long explanation of how he made his space sword, Iroh is the one who cuts through. "My nephew and niece?" he asks, his tone deceptively mild.

Everyone freezes, and Hakoda watches Katara's expression turn blank in that 'I've just stolen the last piece of seal jerky' way. "They're in the Capital," she says coolly, "with the Fire Lord."

Iroh's shoulders slump.

"But how did you get away?" Sokka asks.

"Eh," Toph says, knocking Katara on the knee, "no one can keep Sugar Queen here down for long. _I _knew she'd turn up sooner or later."

Aang's eyes are slits. "What happened to Zuko?"

If anything, Katara's face turns more guarded. "Listen," she says, directing her words at the Avatar, looking at Iroh. "It's okay, all right? Zuko... he, uh, helped me escape."

The children all make exclamations of surprise and protest. Hakoda furrows his brow and wonders why his daughter is lying.

General Iroh brings his cup to his lips and takes a long sip before saying, "Is that so," as though he is remarking on the weather.

Katara nods. "It's true," she lies again. "Azula was going to kill me, but Zuko stopped her. I was being kept in the prison hold on the ship, and he got me out. Then he helped me - well, _let_ me - escape when we got to the Fire Nation. That's what happened."

Aang shakes his head in disbelief. Sokka just looks stunned. Toph's forehead crinkles as she pats Katara's knee again.

Even Iroh seems flabbergasted. "This is _my _nephew?" Hakoda does not miss the note of hope in his voice.

Neither does Katara, obviously. "Yes," she tells Iroh. "He missed you a lot. I could tell." Then a tiny blush crosses her cheeks, and she says, "He even learned to brew tea."

Iroh drops his cup.

"Okay," says Sokka, "there's been some kind of mix-up. I think we're talking about another angry jerk here."

"Hey, she's home, all right?" Toph says. "Quit complaining."

Aang keeps shaking his head. "But, wait, Katara-"

"Can we just have lunch?" Katara gives Hakoda a look, and he sees the slight desperation in it. "I haven't had anything without spice in it for _ages_. I took a bite of these fire crisps on Ember Island, you wouldn't _believe_ how much..." And she's redirecting again, off on another story. Hakoda is appalled when he hears it involves alcohol.

Iroh stares at Katara, and doesn't speak for the rest of the conversation.

* * *

><p>There is no way for the invasion to proceed, that much is clear. Hakoda discusses the plan of action, but it is his son who stands up and tells them what will happen next. It is <em>Sokka<em> who declares that the children will go into hiding and help the Avatar master the elements, preparing him to fight the Fire Lord. It is _Sokka_ who orders the warriors to return to sea and continue to disrupt supply lines until rendezvousing a week before the arrival of Sozin's Comet. It is _Sokka_, drawing maps in the dirt with his sword, who explains how the ships will create a diversion while Aang attacks with what Sokka describes as "flying watery-flamey Boulders of Doom".

Hakoda's _son _is the one everyone listens to, including Hakoda himself. He thinks he would be proud if he could find his footing. Sokka is a leader and Katara is a woman and it can't be that Hakoda was gone for only two and a half years.

There are modifications to Sokka's plan; the inventor asks that the other children go into hiding as well, and no one objects. The location of the rendezvous point is debated until everyone is satisfied. But there is one point that is flatly unexpected.

"What do you mean, you're not coming?" Sokka says, gaping at General Iroh. "Someone has to teach Aang the rest of firebending!"

"I've taught Aang everything I can," Iroh says. He is writing carefully on a tiny scroll. "And I have other, very boring Old Person matters to attend to."

"But how else is he supposed to make the Boulders of Doom?"

"Masters have a way of finding you when you need them." Iroh rolls up the scroll and puts it into a small tube before smiling at Sokka. "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

Sokka throws his hands up in the air and stalks off. The group disperses, and Hakoda makes a point of following Iroh down to the beach. "You had better not be leaving my children high and dry," he says. Hakoda is _also_ not fond of their only competent Firebender disappearing.

"I am doing no such thing," says Iroh. He is feeling along the cliff wall. "My nephew learned to make tea."

Hakoda blinks. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"More than you know." Finally Iroh appears to find a spot that satisfies him, and he wedges the tiny scroll into a crack in the rocks. Then, to Hakoda's confusion, he bangs his fist against the wall several times.

"Ow!" says Toph overhead.

"It isn't polite to eavesdrop!" Iroh calls up good-naturedly.

Hakoda wishes less of their war were in the hands of Firebenders.

* * *

><p>The hours pass in the blink of an eye, and by the evening the sky bison is loaded and Hakoda is hugging his children goodbye. Their heads come up to the middle of his chest.<p>

He makes them promise to be good and behave themselves.

They both roll their eyes.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN_**_: NaNoWriMo is over. Back to work._


	14. Duels of Honor: Part 1

**_A/N_**__: Sorry this took so long - and sorry it's in two pieces. It was becoming unmanageable.__

* * *

><p><em><strong>Duels of Honor<strong>_  
><em>(Part One)<em>

* * *

><p><em>The coming of honor or disgrace must be a reflection of one's inner power.<strong><br>-Xun Zi**_

* * *

><p>Aang is gone when they wake up.<p>

They search for hours. They track his steps out to the sea. They comb the house, the beach, the town, every inch of Ember Island. The Avatar is nowhere to be found, and the argument that results is less than mild.

"We have to find him. He could be in trouble. He could _need_ us."

"Oh, please."

"Look, it doesn't matter. We have to go."

"And do what, exactly?"

"Meet with Dad and the fleet. Get ready for the attack. Aang might be doing his own thing, but the rest of us have to be there to help the others."

"It's suicide without Twinkletoes."

"We've got to try. And we can still save Omashu."

"For how long? My father's going to turn around as soon as he's done with Ba Sing Se-"

"Well, then, maybe we should just kidnap my sister _instead_ and-"

"_I didn't_-"

"SHUT UP!" Katara shouts from the stone steps. "All of you just _shut up!_"

An embarrassed silence falls over the yard, and silence is the best thing Katara can imagine. She's sick of the fighting and stress and constantly changing plans. Sometimes it feels like losing to Ozai would be better than this endless uncertainty.

Now Aang is missing. They're almost out of time.

Katara looks up to find three pairs of eyes on her - the fourth pair staring sightlessly into the distance. They are waiting for her to pick a side. Somewhere on this journey she turned into the fixer, the referee, the mother, the-

She glances at Zuko.

The _something_.

It is best not to dwell on that. "Let's go to the rendezvous point," Katara says, standing up. "Aang's probably already there waiting for us."

Almost everyone nods.

The last of the bags are loaded - food and weapons only, they're not going to need anything else from here on - but Zuko waits stiffly on the other side of the courtyard. Katara walks over to him. "We have to go," she says under her breath. "Aang will be there. Don't worry."

"He ran off, Katara." His words are short; his focus is all on the people in the sky bison's saddle. "He couldn't handle it and he ran."

"_No._ Aang's not like that."

"So why isn't he here?"

"He must have had something he needed to do."

"Such as?"

Katara doesn't have the patience for this. "I don't _know_, okay? But he'll come back. He _has _to."

Zuko looks down at her with some messy combination of fury and loss. "Just because people _have_ to come back," he says, "doesn't mean they _will_."

She does not know what to say in response.

* * *

><p>Aang is not at the rendezvous point.<p>

Neither is Iroh.

Hakoda's frown pulls unfamiliar lines around his mouth; Katara is quite certain they weren't there three years ago. "If the Avatar and General Iroh aren't with you, then where are they?"

No one has an answer. Even Toph looks grim now.

The wide sea stretches beyond the edge of the cliff, and two dozen purple sails cut into the orange of the setting sun. Those sails might be all that stand between the Fire Lord and the rest of the world.

Katara's hand seeks Zuko's - then she catches the expression on Sokka's face. She had asked Sokka not to tell their father about... everything, and after over an hour of reasoning, cajoling, and flat-out begging, he'd finally agreed to keep his mouth shut. At least until after the comet has come and gone.

But it is best not to push her luck.

Katara drops her hand and steps away from Zuko, who doesn't seem to have noticed. He's busy staring out at the purple sails, too.

* * *

><p>She finds herself cooking. Normally she doesn't mind - she took on that responsibility willingly, after all - but there's a difference between fixing a stew for a few close friends and supervising a meal for an entire camp. The warriors seem to assume that dinner will be provided without any of their assistance, just because a Water Tribe woman is there. Katara half expects them to drop off their dirty clothes to be washed and mended.<p>

As she stirs the soup, she thinks of the Fire Nation women she's seen: in uniform, running shops, drinking and shouting and laughing. Bringing down cities.

She wonders what would happen if someone told Azula to go cook while the men talked.

"What's so funny?" Zuko asks, glancing up from the fire, which has gone from blazing flames to perfect roasting embers with just a few gestures.

Katara bites back her giggles. "Nothing." At his skeptical look, she adds, "I'll tell you another time."

There is an audible huff from Sokka - followed by a grunt as Toph elbows him in the ribs.

The group around their little fire is subdued as they eat, but even subdued, it's nice to have everyone back again. It feels right to have Haru and Teo sitting next to Suki, and for Pipsqueak and the Duke to be chatting with Toph.

But no Aang.

It is Suki who finally says, "So... what now?"

Katara is pleased to see her father look to Sokka, who pokes his chopsticks at an empty bowl and stares thoughtfully out over the rest of the camp. "You're _sure_ Sifu Iroh isn't coming?" he asks Hakoda.

Hakoda shakes his head, looking annoyed. "Iroh didn't tell me _anything_."

Sokka sighs. "Okay. Well... we have to do what we came to do. Thanks to Zuko's plans-" the words are sour "-we at least know what's going to happen. Everyone here will intercept the navy and protect Omashu. A few of us will take Appa to find the air fleet and try to sabotage as much as possible before..."

"Before we're all killed," Zuko finishes shortly.

Katara groans under her breath as Sokka narrows his eyes. "I didn't ask for your opinion," Sokka growls.

"It's not an opinion," Zuko snaps, "it's a _fact_. If you intercept the air fleet on a _bison _you'll get blasted out of the sky. There won't even be time to jump."

"That's why we'll do all we can _before _then," Sokka shoots back.

Katara tries not to get sick in the hush that follows.

"Twinkletoes is coming back," Toph says after a few moments. "And so is Gramps. You all are getting your ponytails in a knot over nothing."

"But Gramps- uh, _Uncle_ doesn't know that Aang has run off."

"He hasn't _run off_." If Katara is sure of anything, she's sure of that. "Just because we don't know where he is or what he's doing doesn't mean he's abandoned us."

"If he has-" Zuko cringes slightly under the heat of Katara's glare, and repeats with emphasis, "_If _he has, then we need Uncle to stop whatever he's planning to do and go fight my father instead. He's the only one who can."

There's a long, stunned silence.

"Wait." Haru blinks multiple times. "If General Iroh can fight Ozai, why hasn't he done it already? Why hasn't that been the plan from the _beginning?_"

Zuko rubs his nose. Katara notices how hollow his face is around the scar, and wonders when he's last had a proper night of sleep. "It's the Avatar's destiny to defeat the Fire Lord," Zuko admits. "But Uncle might stand a chance. And if we all help him-"

"We can't abandon everyone else." Sokka makes a wide gesture at the Water Tribe men eating their dinners. "We can't just forget about the air fleet."

"I didn't say we should!"

"Then what _were _you saying?"

"If you hadn't _interrupted_-"

"Boys," Hakoda says, glancing between Zuko and Sokka with obvious puzzlement. "Calm down."

Katara wonders if anyone in camp has the ingredients for a Spark Bomb. She could use a drink.

"There's only one thing to do." Zuko's voice takes on the firmness of a crown prince who has made his final decision. "I have to go find Uncle."

Sokka is clearly unimpressed. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there's a whole world to search and only a few days to do it. Sifu Iroh's not gonna be _that_ easy to find on foot, even if he _is _a big guy."

"I know someone who knows how to locate people," Zuko says. "And I'll go on Appa."

"Wait a minute-"

"Then how are _we_ supposed to-"

The smoke from Zuko's sigh makes Katara cough. "Haru, the war balloon's still working, right?"

Haru nods. "It's hidden behind a rise near here."

"Good. Then you all can take _that_. The Fire Nation's a lot less likely to notice one of their own ships joining them then they are a giant white hairball."

Appa's rumble is indignant.

"That sounds good to me," Katara jumps in. The sooner Zuko and Sokka are apart, the better - and come to think of it, Aang could even be with Iroh. He could be trying to break through his firebending block this very minute. That would be wonderful.

Though a note would have been nice.

Sokka looks like he's trying to come up with some objection; Katara resists the urge to warn him that his face will stick in that scowl if he's not careful. But finally he humphs and pokes a stick at the fire. "Fine," he says. "You go find Iroh. The rest of us will get ready for battle."

It's the last dinner they'll spend together, then.

Katara makes herself eat, even though she's not hungry.

* * *

><p>The stars are only beginning to fade when Katara sneaks out of her tent and tiptoes across the wet morning grass. Zuko starts in surprise as she approaches - then glares as she tosses her sack into Appa's saddle. "You're not coming," he says.<p>

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're _not_."

Katara completely ignores his livid expression as she fists her hands in warm, shaggy fur and hoists herself up. "You're planning to find General Iroh and then help him fight the Fire Lord."

"That's right."

"Well, while you're watching Iroh's back," she says loftily, "someone has to watch _yours_."

Zuko has a look on his face, one that's ridiculously easy to read. Katara knows he's wondering how much time it would take to yank her off the sky bison and force her backward with fire until he can take off.

Appa turns to the Prince and issues a low, warning growl.

Katara smirks. "You're outvoted, Zuko."

Zuko glowers at them both... then sighs. "Fine," he grumbles, climbing into position behind Appa's horns. "Let's get out of here before your idiot brother tries to kill me."

"Don't worry," Katara says. "_I _leave notes."

* * *

><p>Sokka,<p>

I wasn't kidnapped.

Good luck against the fleet. Be careful.

Love,  
>Katara<p>

PS. DON'T TELL DAD.

* * *

><p>To Katara's extreme annoyance, Zuko refuses to divulge where they're going. This means she can't drive. When she points out that that will only exhaust him, he snaps that she needs the sleep more than he does. She almost throws her waterskin at the back of his head.<p>

They're both irritable. And tired. And maybe a little afraid.

By the time the noon summer sun beats down Zuko's chin is dropping to his chest; twice he nearly falls off Appa's head. Katara has had enough. She wraps two ropes of water around his shoulders and yanks him into the saddle before he's even fully conscious.

He wakes up when he lands on her, though.

Katara twists from underneath his surprised form and slides down to grab the reins before he can object. They bicker for a few minutes, then Zuko reluctantly instructs her to keep heading northeast for the rest of the afternoon. He's asleep before they pass the next cloud bank.

Katara tries not to think about the familiar feel of his weight.

Her body had missed him long before the rest of her did.

* * *

><p>The obviously disreputable bar is full of huge, unsavory types. Katara doesn't get intimidated quickly or easily, but she does a swift mental survey of every glass of water in the room, just in case. There's already a fight breaking out by one of the tables. "And the reason you've brought me to this seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is <em>what<em> now?" Katara asks suspiciously.

Zuko points at the fight. The fight involving a tall woman with long hair. "June."

Katara's already bad mood takes a sudden turn for the worse.

They pick their way through the increasingly rowdy crowd, and Katara doesn't failed to notice how all the men in the room seem to be aware of June's every movement. Katara has _never_ failed to notice that. Even Zuko stares as, from a sitting position, the obnoxiously beautiful bounty hunter kicks a drunk in the chin.

Not that that bothers a Master Waterbender.

She crosses her arms under her breasts with a sniff.

June looks up as they approach the table, and rolls her eyes. Or rolls the eye not covered by her hair, anyway. Katara wonders bitterly if maybe she only _has_ one eye. "Oh, great," June says. "It's Prince Pouty." Zuko makes a face - which _is_ pouty - and she sips from her steaming cup before continuing, "Where's your creepy grandpa?"

"He's my _uncle_. And he's not here. That's what I need to talk to you about."

"Oh, is it." June glances at Katara. "I see you worked things out with your girlfriend."

Zuko's good cheek positively _glows _red. "She's not my girlfriend," he mutters.

"Just as well." The bounty hunter smirks at them as she moves to take a swig. "She's still too pretty for you."

A second later, a giant ice cube slides out of June's cup and hits her in the nose. "Sorry," Katara says sweetly as the ice falls to the floor and shatters. "Were you drinking that?"

"Sheesh. I was only teasing."

* * *

><p>Searching for Iroh does not motivate June. The end of the world catches her attention, but still does not get her up from her seat. It is when Katara turns the woman's second drink to ice, and then the third, that June reluctantly agrees to turn her shirshu on to Iroh's scent.<p>

As Zuko holds up one of Iroh's old sandals, Katara considers for a moment suggesting that they track Aang instead. She sets the idea aside. Aang will come back on his own. Katara has faith.

The ghoulish tracker animal is the fastest thing Katara has ever seen; there are several times over the course of the next twenty-four hours that she is _sure_ Appa will be left behind. But the sky bison has reserves Katara never even imagined; the clouds part as he speeds through them, and she and Zuko are forced to lie on their bellies for fear of being blown off into open air.

The wind roars in their ears and it's too loud to speak. Katara has nothing to do but reflect on what is happening, on what has happened, on what will happen. She wonders if Zuko is doing the same. It's hard to tell. His eyes stay closed; he has never liked flying, even at reasonable velocities. Katara can't read his expression beyond 'airsick'.

She attempts, once more, to reconcile the person who chased them across the world with the person who touched her on red cushions with the person who trained Aang on Ember Island. She still can't do it. It makes her head hurt to try. The three Zukos stay compartmentalized, and Katara hides her face against the soft cushion of the saddle.

* * *

><p>The endless stretch of tall stone blends into the night sky, but Katara can still see the great rent in the side, wide enough for an army to march through. Azula brought the walls down.<p>

"We're going to Ba Sing Se," she informs Zuko, who still hasn't looked up.

A feeble whimper is his only response.

Appa lands a few minutes later and immediately rolls onto his side, panting for breath; Katara and Zuko tumble out of the saddle in a heap. Katara jams her elbow against a rock and curses. Zuko throws up.

June hops down from her mount as though she's done nothing more than take a leisurely jaunt through the countryside. The shirshu doesn't even look winded. "Your uncle's somewhere that way," says June, gesturing in towards the farmland crushed by soldiers' boots. "Nyla's getting twitchy, so he can't be too far."

Katara nods. "Thank you," she says.

The older woman doesn't acknowledge the gratitude. "I didn't do it for free," she reminds them.

"You'll get paid as soon as we find General Iroh," says Katara. She is lying through her teeth; Katara actually has no idea whether or not Iroh will have the kind of money they have promised. She doubts it. Still, a little dishonesty isn't that important when weighed against the end of the world.

June gets an ugly look on her face. "You better not have made a promise you couldn't keep." Her voice takes on a slight Fire Nation accent. "It wouldn't be honorable."

"I keep my promises," Zuko snarls, still on his knees, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Katara does not understand the Fire Nation's obsession with honor. She doesn't think she ever will.

* * *

><p>It is too late to start searching, too dark to set up their tents. June snuggles against Nyla's flank; Katara and Zuko curl on Appa's wide tail.<p>

The strong, cold wind reminds Katara just how far north the Impenetrable City really is. At first she tries to draw warmth from the fur of the sky bison - but before long she finds herself edging closer and closer to the source of heat by her side, until she's inches from Zuko's body. A Firebender is better than a sealskin sleeping bag.

Yue shines overhead. Katara realizes Zuko is awake and quietly watching her movements. "You should sleep," she whispers.

"I know," he says.

There's no point in asking again. He _would _sleep, she suspects, if she came a little bit nearer... but they've never done that. A few times she's drifted off while he was there - when she was worn out by their 'sparring', when she'd cried herself to exhaustion after Yon Ra - but that's different than letting it happen on purpose.

Before she has too long to ponder this, however, there's a rustling noise - and June is up in a flash, whips in hand. "Someone's coming," she says tersely.

Katara is hardly to her feet when they are surrounded by a ring of orange flame. Appa howls in terror and she's got her waterskin uncorked and Zuko moves into a grounded stance, his back against hers.

Shadows above them, playing against the light of the fire. A familiar snorting laugh. "Well, look who's here!"

Katara's mouth falls open. Zuko swears. And June snaps a whip against King Bumi's head, which puts a stop to his laughter in a hurry.

* * *

><p>Apparently all old people know each other, which is disturbing on more than a few levels. The fact that <em>her<em> old master has met _Sokka's_ old master has met _Aang's_ old master... "Do you think they talk about us?" she whispers to Zuko. It's an utterly terrifying prospect.

Zuko doesn't answer. Tension rolls off of his body in waves. Bumi, however, feels the need to say: "Of course! What do you think we _do_ when we're not playing pai sho? Knit?"

"Right," Katara mutters. It's too late to fly away.

Nyla strains against June's bonds, trying to speed their little party towards what amounts to a small village of tents. "So the kid's creepy uncle _is_ here," June says.

"General Iroh is a Grand Master of the White Lotus," says Master Pakku, giving the bounty hunter a severe look. "Speak with respect, woman."

Katara thinks that marriage has not changed Pakku very much. Still, perhaps he is more polite in front of Gran-Gran; she can't imagine her grandmother would allow a comment like that to pass without a solid tongue-lashing.

The idea of Gran-Gran giving Master Pakku a _tongue-lashing_ is the most horrible image Katara has ever had. She quickly distracts herself by asking for an explanation of Bumi's escape from Omashu, which leads to a general discussion of how everyone spent the Day of Black Sun. June's tale of her capture of five wanted firebenders during the eight minute eclipse is unanimously declared to be the most impressive.

Zuko remains silent.

* * *

><p>Katara is put in a tent intended for a White Lotus member who has yet to arrive, and as she drops her meager sack next to her bed she considers that this is a significantly more comfortable set up than Appa's tail. Still, she is restless, despite the late hour. She wanders the camp for awhile. There are surprisingly few benders, all things considered; she thinks Sokka would have fit in nicely, and makes a mental note to tell him about it when she sees him again. If she sees him again.<p>

Of course she will see him again.

She spies Zuko kneeling outside a large tent in the center of camp, his head bowed. It does not take much insight to guess who must lie behind the canvas flaps.

Katara approaches on soft feet. "Are you okay?"

"_No_," he snaps. "I'm not okay."

It was a stupid question, really. Katara kneels down beside him, and he turns his face away. "It'll be fine," she says.

He shakes his head. "My uncle hates me," he whispers. "I know it."

"He doesn't hate you." They have had this conversation before; _everyone_ has had this conversation before. But no matter how many times they say it, the truth never sinks into the Fire Prince's head. "I _talked to him_. All he wanted was to know if you were okay. He defended you to Aang, to Sokka, to my dad... he _loves_ you, Zuko."

"Exactly," Zuko says. His robes are dirty from the mud, but so are Katara's. "He loved me and supported me in every way he could... and I still turned against him. How can I even face him?"

"But you're sorry for what you did, right?"

"More sorry than I've ever been about anything in my entire life." He pauses, then glances sideways at Katara. "Well, almost," he amends.

"Then he'll forgive you," Katara says firmly. "_I_ forgave you."

She did. It was difficult, it took a long time, and there are all kinds of things it does and doesn't mean... but she forgave him.

A moment later Zuko gets to his feet and steps forward into Iroh's tent with a heavy exhale, and Katara heads back to bed with a feeling of melancholy satisfaction; they are two emotions she never thought would go together, but somehow, with Zuko, they always fit like puzzle pieces.

* * *

><p>In the morning Katara is not surprised to see General Iroh and Prince Zuko sharing tea - nor is she surprised to see that Zuko looks happier than he has in weeks. What <em>does<em> surprise her, however, is that Iroh leaps to his feet with shocking agility for an old man and hugs her so fiercely she nearly falls over. "Um, good morning, General," she chokes out as the the air is squeezed from her lungs.

"It is _wonderful_ to see you again, my dear." The embrace doesn't lessen for a moment, and Katara gives Zuko a slightly desperate look over Iroh's shoulder. Zuko hits his face with his palm.

Over the next half hour Iroh quizzes Katara on the most random details: her favorite tea, her favorite color, whether she likes her komodo hen eggs fried or scrambled, if she thought the Fire Nation weather was too warm, and a thousand and one other things of no particular relevance. Katara tries to answer though her mounting confusion while Zuko sinks lower and lower, like he's trying to melt into the ground and disappear.

Finally, as Iroh takes a breath - having asked the urgent question of whether Katara prefers swimming in oceans or rivers - Zuko bursts out, "Uncle, none of this is important!"

"Of course it is," says the Dragon of the West, innocently wide-eyed. "I haven't gotten her opinion on fire lilies yet."

Katara blinks. "They're all right, I guess."

"How is knowing what kind of _flowers_ she likes going to help with anything?"

Iroh's expression manages to be appalled, amused, and pitying all at the same time. "Oh, Prince Zuko, you have so much to learn."

Zuko turns sea prune purple. "I _meant_," he says with slow, exaggerated patience, "help with the _battle_. You're the only person other than the Avatar who might defeat the Father Lord, so _try_ to focus."

Katara does not miss his slip of the tongue, and she can tell Iroh didn't either; all merriment is gone as he sips his tea. "I cannot fight him, Zuko," he says gently.

"You _can_," Zuko insists. "With Katara and I there to help-"

"No, nephew, there is no time for that. You must leave for the Capital as soon as possible." Iroh's words are grave. "Ozai has declared himself Phoenix King, and Azula is about to be coronated the new Fire Lord. If you don't challenge your sister's claim before that happens, it will take civil war to remove her from the throne."

A shiver of fear runs through Katara at the thought of the Princess in full control of fleets, armies, benders... even if battle didn't spread beyond the archipelago, the Fire Nation would be destroyed. Katara has seen too much of the land and people to be anything but horrified at the thought. "We can't let that happen," she says to Zuko. "She has to be stopped."

Zuko looks as sick as she feels. "Absolutely," he agrees. Then he turns back to his uncle. "Okay, we won't be here, then. But that doesn't mean you can't challenge my father. You have all these people on your side-"

But Iroh shakes his head. "Even if I did defeat Ozai," he says, "and I don't know that I could... it would be the wrong way to end the war. History would see it as just more senseless violence - a brother killing a brother to grab power. The only way for this war to end peacefully is for the _Avatar _to defeat the Fire Lord."

It's no more or less than what Katara expected Iroh to say, but Zuko shivers visibly with anger. "And if the Avatar doesn't come back?"

"Aang _is_ coming back," Katara interjects.

"You don't know that! _None_ of you know that!"

"Sozin's Comet is arriving, and our destinies are upon us." Iroh sets aside his cup and regards Zuko levelly. "You and I both trained that boy. He is made of stronger stuff than you acknowledge. Aang will face his destiny as well."

The flames in the camp fire blaze for a moment - then Zuko storms off, disappearing out of sight between the tents.

Iroh sighs. "Don't worry," he says. "Prince Zuko has... _difficulties_ with his temper from time to time."

"I know," she says, a touch sharper than she intended. Katara finds herself surprisingly annoyed that anyone, even Iroh, would imply they know more about the Fire Prince than her. She pokes at her bowl of porridge and eggs, torn between wanting to go after Zuko and wanting to leave him until he gets his ridiculous sulk out of the way. He may not like Aang, but Zuko ought to have more faith - in her judgment, if nothing else. The Avatar will return, and he will defeat Ozai.

The other side of the world is different matter entirely. "General Iroh-"

"Please," Iroh says warmly, "call me Uncle."

Katara opens her mouth, then closes it and wonders _what_ on earth Zuko and Iroh talked about last night. "Uncle," she says, "about Princess Azula... she's already too powerful." She struggles to articulate her concerns without implying doubt that she doesn't have. "With the comet, I'm not sure she'll be much easier to defeat than Ozai."

There is a long pause - and then Iroh's smile is delighted. "You are worried about my nephew's safety?"

Her cheeks turn hot. "Of course I am," she says quickly. "He's part of our group. And he's a _great _bender, but it's going to be tough." She doesn't share the foundation of her concern: Zuko, thrown across the deck of Azula's ship, and the hour afterward that Katara spent knitting together his cracked ribs. It's all she can see when she thinks of the Fire Prince and Princess in combat.

"He will need your help," says Iroh.

"I know that." She knows that. "Master Pakku trained me himself-"

"I am not talking about bending." Out of nowhere, there is an intensity in Iroh that Katara hasn't seen before. It fills her with unease. "_Bending _has never been the edge Azula holds over Zuko, and that is not where he will need you most."

It's a cryptic response. Katara wants to ask more questions - but before she can say a word, she is sidetracked with a series of questions about what sort of music she enjoys on the tsungi horn.

* * *

><p>She goes searching for Zuko and runs into the side of a bear instead.<p>

King Kuei is delighted to see her, and without much prompting from Katara starts happily describing all his adventures since the fall of the Earth Kingdom. The importance of his presence at the retaking of Ba Sing Se - for fear that otherwise the invasion will be seen as nothing more than the final triumph of the Dragon of the West - means that he is traveling with the White Lotus forces. Katara fears for his enthusiasm.

"You know it's going to be very dangerous," she tells the Earth King, again. "So... make sure you're careful."

"He'll be fine." June comes up behind them, loading her shirshu with packs. She looks out of temper even by her standards. "I'm keeping an eye on him - for a price." She glares at Kuei. "_Anything I want_ from the palace," she growls. "First pick."

Kuei nods so hard his hat almost falls off. "Yep. Anything. It's all yours." Katara notes the love-lorn admiration in his words.

Maybe this means people will start gossiping about _them_ instead of _her_.

Or maybe not. Zuko appears from behind a tent, rubbing the back of his neck and looking shamefaced. Katara smiles at him - at least his pout didn't last too long, all things considered - and he gives her a half-smile back. A moment later a paper packet drops into Katara's hands.

"Take that," June says dryly, hopping onto Nyla as Kuei climbs awkwardly onto Bosco. "And try not to get into too much trouble, or it's _you _they'll be hiring me to hunt down. Again."

The packet is full of black dragon root.

Katara stalks off with thin lips and narrowed eyes, and everyone has the sense to get out of her way.

* * *

><p>By noon Appa is loaded and they are ready to head west - to face their destinies, Katara supposes. Zuko takes the reins, then pauses and looks down at Iroh. "Uncle... I still don't know if I-"<p>

"The man who has lost his way and found it again," Iroh says evenly, "is stronger than the man who has never strayed from his path."

Katara thinks on this for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

><p>"It's my turn to drive."<p>

"No, it's not."

"_Yes_, it _is_." Katara crosses her arms over the edge of the saddle and glares down at Zuko. It is late evening and they have been flying for hours. "Are we going to have this fight _every time _we travel?"

"Probably."

Katara makes an aggravated noise and flops backward, spread-eagled. "Ugh. _Men._You're worse than Sokka sometimes."

She can't see Zuko's wince, but she knows it's there anyway. "I'm not _that_ bad."

"Then prove it. Let me drive."

"No."

"See? _Men!_"

The rumbling noise from Appa is clearly disgusted.

There's a long, very put-upon sigh. "It's almost time to camp." Zuko pulls on the reins, and the sky bison sinks a little lower closer to the earth. "You can drive tomorrow."

Katara picks at the tangles in her hair peevishly. "You're lying."

"I don't lie," he snaps.

True. "You _can't _lie," Katara corrects herself. "There's a difference."

"I can too. I hid in the Earth Kingdom, didn't I?"

"And let me guess - every time you opened your mouth, you got in trouble."

The sullen silence tells her everything she needs to know. "Yeah, well," he says finally, "Azula got all the talent in the family."

His tone bothers Katara, and she returns to the edge of the saddle to look down. "All the talent at lying, you mean."

"All the talent at _everything_."

A long pause, during which Katara watches the wind pull at Zuko's hair. She's not sure how he can see without it pulled back. "It's going to be a problem when you're Fire Lord," she says. Katara is an idealist, but she's not an idiot. Even Aang had to make up a story about a ball game to stop the century-long feud between the Gan Jins and the Zhangs. Sometimes leaders _have_ to lie, and if Zuko doesn't learn how, he's going to be in a lot of trouble. "Maybe you should practice. Tell me a lie, and I'll tell you if you sound believable."

Zuko glances over his shoulder and gives her a withering look. She simply raises an eyebrow. "Fine," he says. "My name is Lee, and this-" he pats Appa "-is my uncle, Mushi."

If Sokka had declared Momo to be the Earth King, Katara would have found it more believable. "That was awful."

"Thanks. Let's hear you do-"

His words are cut off with a sharp inhale. An instant later, Katara feels it too: a strange, dizzying magnetism, like her blood is trying to move in the wrong direction. She finds herself sliding downward, unable to sit upright in a world off its axis. Zuko groans through gritted teeth - a sound she hasn't heard in months - so whatever's happening, it's certainly not hurting _him_.

The clouds race away as the sky turns red.

* * *

><p>They land quickly. Zuko jumps off of Appa, staring at the barren rockland, at the glow overhead, at his own hands. His chest heaves as he paces and sucks in lungfuls of air. "This feels amazing," he says breathlessly. "This feels <em>incredible<em>."

"Uh-huh." Katara stumbles to the ground, working hard to stay on her feet. Gravity has completely shifted. The _push and pull_ of her body is all wrong.

"Now I know why Sozin did it. It feels like I could take over the world, like I-" He clearly catches to whom he's speaking, because he adds hastily, "Not that I _would_, I'm just saying... Katara? Are you all right? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she says automatically. "I'm fine." It's partly true. As she straightens and takes a few steps, she can sense her equilibrium begin to adjust, like finding her sea legs. "It's just the comet. It... feels weird." It's a second moon, creating another tide.

Zuko doesn't look at all convinced. "You're moving like a newborn ostrich horse."

"No, see? It's getting better." Her body and chi are already compensating, working with the new sensations. A few circles around Appa - who grunts at her in a concerned fashion, though maybe he's just hungry - and she feels close to normal. "How are you?"

The soon-to-be Fire Lord makes a small bending motion, one that shouldn't create more than a puff of smoke. Flames _whoosh_ ten feet in every direction. "Good," he says. "I'm good."

* * *

><p>Waterbender and Firebender spar until they can barely stand. Zuko tries to refuse because of the comet, which puts them on inherently unequal grounds, until Katara points out that Azula won't care very much about fairness. She can tell Zuko's holding back anyway - but in the beginning that's a good thing, because he could very well have killed her otherwise.<p>

Her bending has gone as strange as her balance. The first few tries send splashes everywhere; Appa quickly moves to the other side of the clearing and refuses to come back, bellowing at them indignantly if they call in his direction. After bit of practice, though, she figures out how to adjust her stance and her flow - and realizes that the more heavily she leans on the hybridized moves she developed from watching Zuko, the more successful she is. She uses her upper body less and focuses instead on her legs, giving up fluidity in favor of sharpness and speed; by the time they're finished she feels more like a Firebender than a Waterbender, but at least her element is obeying her again.

The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, on the other hand, has in the space of an hour become the most powerful combatant Katara's ever seen - once he figures out how not to burn down the entire valley by accident. It's not long before they're collapsed on opposite sides of the camp fire, gulping down tea and rice cakes. "Feels like old times," Katara says, healing a blistered welt on her forearm.

Zuko glances over... then smiles hesitantly. "If you _really_ want it to feel like old times," he offers, "I could tie you to a tree."

Katara's both exhausted and full of adrenaline. She can't help bursting into giggles. It was _so _long ago. "We could have Appa dress up as a pirate!"

Zuko starts to laugh too - or rather, the rusty chuckle that passes for his laughter. Katara has noticed that he never looks happier than when someone likes a joke he's found the courage to tell. "Use a stick as a waterbending scroll," he suggests, eyes gleaming.

She nods vigorously. "And you've already got my necklace, so..." But then she trails off, because she doesn't know how to finish that sentence.

"Yeah," he says, looking away. His thumb brushes against his pocket. Katara knows that's where he keeps it, where he's _been_ keeping it ever since he came to the Western Air Temple and she made clear that what had happened on the ship was not to be discussed - for all the good that did.

She's not taking the necklace back. She gave it to him. That makes it _his_ necklace, and if he gives it back he's not _returning _it, he's...

Katara wasn't raised in the Northern Water Tribe or with their customs, but there's still too much symbolism there.

To change the subject she says, "I wonder if the others are okay."

"They're fine." Zuko breaks off a piece of firewood; he lights it with his hand before tossing it into the flames. "Sokka knows what he's doing."

"Can I tell him you said that?"

"No."

"Didn't think so." She reclines onto her side and rests her cheek against the palm of her hand. "I wonder if Aang's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine too." Zuko's words aren't reassuring this time. They're cold and they're sharp.

Katara's voice isn't much warmer when she replies. "He's _coming back_, Zuko."

"Yeah. _You _think so."

It feels like an insult. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demands, narrowing her eyes.

"It means you're biased," Zuko says flatly. He stares into the camp fire; light flickers against the puckered valleys of his scar. "You think he's the Spirits' gift to the universe. You never see him for what he is: a spoiled, selfish brat who's been coddled since the day he was born."

Katara is so angry that for a few moments she literally can't speak. "You don't know what you're talking about," she eventually says, once she's sure she won't bite through her own tongue. "You have _no _idea the kind of things he's been through."

"I'm sure it's so much worse than everyone else's life."

"I didn't say it was! But no one else is under the same kind of _pressure_! How would _you_ feel if you were told you had to save the world when you were _twelve?_"

"I was told at ten that I'd be Fire Lord one day."

"Right, and you've _never _acted spoiled or selfish."

"Maybe so, but I've always done what I had to, whether I liked it or not." The fire sparks and flames brighter - brighter than it usually would when Zuko is in bad temper, thanks to the comet fueling his power. "Aang wants to do what _he_ wants. He doesn't want to listen to what anyone else has to say."

"That's not true! He listens to what _everyone_ has to say! That's the problem!"

Zuko might have met the boy who came out of the iceburg, but he never _knew_ him - not the boy who just wanted to go penguin sledding and ride giant koi. He didn't see Aang in the Southern Air Temple, when he realized he was the last Airbender and all of his people were gone. He didn't know about the old fisherman who shouted that Aang had turned his back on the world. He wasn't there when General Fong forced Aang into the Avatar State. Zuko didn't watch as Aang heard over and over and _over_ that he was the only one who could end the war, how the fate of the nations was all _his_ responsibility.

"Everyone's been telling him a hundred different things about what he's supposed to think," she goes on. "It's no wonder he's confused."

"Well, I hope he gets over it before his _confusion_ kills us all."

Katara can't believe she's having this argument, she really can't. "I've been lecturing Aang for _weeks _about how he ought to be nicer to you," she says furiously, getting to her feet. "Maybe I was yelling at the wrong person!"

"Please." It's her shoes that take the force of his glare. "You've never yelled at the Avatar in your life."

"_What?_ Of course I have! That's- you're being- _Ugh!_" She stomps her foot in frustration. "The two of you drive me crazy! You're not competing with each another! You're supposed to be _on the same side now!_"

Zuko flinches.

Katara pauses.

She stares.

She understands.

"You _are_ competing with each other," she says, stunned. When he doesn't reply she knows she's right, but that doesn't mean it makes sense. "Why?"

"Forget it," Zuko mumbles. "It doesn't matter."

Katara is going to drown them both, Avatar and Fire Lord or not. "This is absolutely the _stupidest _thing I've ever-"

"Everyone likes him." The sticks crackling in the fire are louder than his words. "Not just you. Everyone we meet. He doesn't even have to try."

Katara starts to protest, but stops herself. They'd both know she was lying. Everyone _does _like Aang, and even when Zuko puts in effort it takes time to warm up to him. "Some people are just more... personable," she says, gentler now. "It doesn't mean anything."

"It means they were born lucky."

"Exactly." Those are the words she was looking for. "It's only luck, you know?"

Zuko's head just lowers further. "Believe me, I know."

It's late; it seems wrong to leave him like this, but Katara isn't sure what else she's supposed to say. It's easier with Aang; she just thinks of how her mother would have handled the situation, and Aang cheers up. It doesn't work like that with Zuko. "I'm going to bed," she tells him. "Try to be in a better mood tomorrow morning."

He just snorts and uses a wrist movement to coax the flames into a glimmering red whirlpool.

It's the same bend she would use on water.

* * *

><p>She can't sleep.<p>

This is not new for Katara. Sometimes she thinks she hasn't slept - _really _slept - since the day Ba Sing Se fell. She certainly didn't on Azula's ship, and since then it has been difficult as well, because her logical mind and confused heart haven't been able to explain to her frustrated body why it can't have what it had grown accustomed to. Her body only understands that good things happened to it while in captivity, and now it robs her of restful nights. Particularly since Zuko arrived at the Western Air Temple.

But Katara is a whole person who is not made solely of urging hormones; they did not rule her nor make her decisions... except sometimes they were accompanied by an empty sadness, one that felt like a physical thing, as though her bones had been sucked clean of marrow. In those particularly uneasy hours she would give her aches some semblence of what they wanted, and close her eyes as she imagined her fingers belonged to someone else. It always left her hollow.

She is hollow now.

Tomorrow they will be in the Fire Nation, just their little invasion force of two - three, if she counts Appa. Katara tries to remind herself that _Azula _only needed three to bring down the Earth Kingdom. It doesn't help. She's not Azula. Neither is Zuko.

She wonders if he's feeling hollow too.

Without consciously thinking about it, she finds herself crawling out of the tent.

The sky is still crimson on the horizon, but the night air is chilly as she tiptoes past the snoring Appa and berates herself. Not only is she allowing her baser desires to control her, she is doing it in spite of the fact that her heart is no less unsettled today than it was months ago. It is unfair to him. It is unfair to her.

But then again, they might both be dead by this time tomorrow and it won't make any difference.

These tents, taken from the Water Tribe warriors, are smaller than the ones she's used to; when she lifts the flap and Zuko sits up, his head brushes the ceiling. "Katara? What's going-"

"Nothing." She grabs his wrist, which stops him from pulling out the broadswords and slicing up whatever threat he thinks has sent her to him in the middle of the night. "I was... just..."

It suddenly occurs to her that he might say no. This isn't exactly a good time, after all. They're supposed to go to war in a few hours.

Still, she leans back and tugs on the ties of her clothes. Her hair falls into her face as she does. Katara has never started this before, never, and she knows that at any moment he might tell her he won't be used and to go back to her own bed. It's nervewracking. She has no idea who it is she's trying to seduce: the Prince, the Firebender, or the boy from the ship. Any of them. All of them.

He doesn't make a sound as she shrugs out of her robe, baring herself above the waist. There's no iron or tea or red cushions. She's too nervous to look up, so she studies the stitching on the edge of his bedroll instead, noting where she needs to make repairs to the seam.

And she waits.

And waits.

And waits.

The guilt in her chest blossoms into full-on humiliation. It was stupid of her to come here. As soon as she can open her mouth to speak she's going to apologize profusely then escape with whatever dignity she can scrounge up-

Well-known fingers ghost across her ribs, curl around her waist, and give the lightest, faintest pull forward.

Katara exhales in shaky relief and meets his lips with her own.

It throws her off that he won't begin anything. He seems content just to kiss her; he doesn't take off his clothes until she starts to tug at them; he doesn't move his hands from her sides until she puts them on her breasts; he doesn't push inside until she squirms beneath him and parts her knees impatiently. She thinks she understands why he's acting like this - he doesn't know what he's doing, neither does she, this is more foreign than familiar - but in spite of everything she still wonders if he's only humoring her.

Any doubts are allayed when she wraps her thighs around his hips. She feels more than hears her name against her throat, and the quick forceful _firebending_ movements that follow are exactly what she needs.

It takes so much effort not to cry out.

They're silent for long minutes afterwards. He lies on his side and brushes a calloused palm in soft circles across her belly; it's something he's done before, and again, it feels different on a bedroll in a dark tent than it did on cushions in a metal room.

"I'm scared Aang won't come back," she confesses in a whisper.

The hand on her stomach doesn't even pause. "He will."

Katara rolls Zuko over and kisses him.

* * *

><p>In the morning blazing fire peeks over the sky line, brighter by far than the sun. Zuko packs quietly. Katara adds dragon root to her tea.<p>

Sozin's Comet gains on them with every hour they fly west.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: This took forever. Forever forever forever. But the second half isn't too far behind, I promise. I mean, it can't get any more difficult, right? RIGHT?_


	15. The Final Chakra

__**A/N**: I know this isn't the update many of you were hoping for, but it was important nonetheless. I also realized that **not** writing it was what was blocking me on Duels of Honor, so... there ya go.__

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Final Chakra<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>A great revolution in just one single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a society and, further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind.<em>_**  
>-Daisaku Ikeda<strong>_

* * *

><p>It is a terrible wait.<p>

Aang is already meditating when the comet slices through the sky, trailing fire in its wake, and he tries to take comfort from the earth beneath his body. This barren stone forest has stood since the beginning of time; it will continue to stand in some form until the world crumbles to dust, no matter what transpires today. It is like the Avatar in that respect. This small, frail body may plummet to the ground below or burst into searing flame, but the Avatar will live on in some infant girl born into the Water Tribe. Maybe she will look like Katara: skin dark as an arctic seal, eyes bluer than the engagement necklace the girl could wear.

He imagines the designs he would have carved for the Waterbender who has stood by his side - symbols of air and water, intertwined for eternity. But even if he survives, that necklace will never be made, because Katara would not accept it.

The ache that rises around Aang's heart has no place in what is to come. He blinks back tears that may be caused by his thoughts, or possibly by the smoke that is beginning to blow in from the distance.

He still does not know what to do.

He does not know if he can kill.

It is true, he has killed in the past. But those were moments of rage, or when he was controlled by the Avatar, or when he simply wasn't considering the consequences of his actions. This moment will be something else altogether: he will be entering a fight for the sole, clear-minded, cold intent of destroying another human being. It may be justified - it may be murder - but either way, it will be deliberate, and Aang does not know if he is capable.

Then it is too late for further reflection. He climbs to his feet as thousands of birds flee the approaching wall of fire and flame. "Momo," he says, "time for you to go."

Momo does not need to be asked twice.

An exhale. A series of boulders brought crashing into the side of the sole airship bringing the tyrant to this shore. An orange explosion - it is _amazing _what the comet has done to firebending, it's a rush of pure pleasure through every nerve ending - and the airship falls. Aang shivers, wondering how many soldiers who were only serving their nation have broken their bones, broken their necks in the crash; there is already blood already on his hands.

Ozai is nearly twice the twelve-year-old's height. The Avatar is steady, but Aang can only pray his fear won't crack the surface and make him tremble.

"After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the universe delivers you to me as an act of providence."

"_Please _listen to me," Aang says one last time. It will not work, but he has to at least know he tried. "We don't have to fight. You have the power to end it here and stop what you're doing."

"You are right," says Fire Lord Ozai. "I do have the power. I have _all_ the power in the world."

* * *

><p>It is a terrible battle.<p>

Earth flies. Air blows. Water crashes. And fire, fire everywhere, fire is _everything_.

The Avatar is Master of all four elements... but Aang has had less than a year to learn waterbending, less than seven months to learn earthbending, and less than four months to learn firebending - the latter of which in particular did not go well. He relies on his stronger elements to escape Ozai's blows to the greatest extent possible. Escape means less time to counterattack. He is not losing, but he is not winning, either.

Lightning, sharp and blue like the iceberg cracks that released the Avatar from a century of sleep, begins to arc through the air.

Sifu Iroh told him what to do. In the arm. Through the stomach. Out the other arm. Keep the electricity away from his heart. Zuko warned him as well, though in harsher and less patient terms. In the arm. Through the stomach. Out the other arm. Redirect it to your opponent.

All Aang has to do is point the fingers of his right hand at the Fire Lord.

But Aang does not know how to kill.

Then he is falling, running, encased in rock. Hiding like a child.

"You're weak, just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world - in _my_ world. Prepare to join them. Prepare to die!"

* * *

><p>It is a terrible choice.<p>

_The Thought Chakra is located at the crown of the head. It deals with pure cosmic energy and is blocked by earthly attachment._

Aang knew - on some level - what he would have to face.

_Meditate on what attaches you to this world._

The final pool of energy has been blocked to him for so long, not because he could not let go, but because he did not _want_ to let go. Because Aang wants to go penguin sledding and zoom about on his air scooter. Aang wants to play pai sho with Monk Gyatso. He wants to marry Katara.

Four years younger than past Avatars were even told what they were, Aang has been asked to save the world. It is too much for a child.

It is not that Aang must release _her_. It has never been that. It is that Aang must release his last true attachment: the selfish, human hope for a future all his own.

_All I want is what is best for him.  
>But what we need is what's best for the world.<em>

Monk Gyatso would have let him grow up as a normal boy, and Katara, if she had felt about him the way he felt about her, would have given him a normal life. A family. Children. Grandchildren. Everything that has been denied to him out of a destiny shaped the moment of his birth.

Both of them, acting from love and kindness, wanted to shelter him from the burdens into which he had been born. And Aang wanted so, so much to be sheltered. He wanted to go penguin sledding. He wanted to be twelve.

_You must learn to let go._

"Come on out, Avatar! You can't hide in there forever!"

Inside a circle of stone, he finally understands what so many have tried to tell him.

He releases his past.

He releases his future.

He breathes deeply, and as the rock blasts away, Aang releases _himself_.

The final chakra unlocks.

* * *

><p><em>The world glows white.<em>

_The Avatar rises._

_The world splinters blue._

_The Fire Lord falls._

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: I know that I have been very, very slow on this story, and for that I apologize; I've had a handful of other projects that I needed to manage, and also, this is honestly one of the **hardest** fics I've ever worked on. But I assure you that, while postings may not come as fast as you or I may wish, they will continue to come. (You know how I know? Because I'm not allowing myself to watch Legend of Korra until this story is finished.) Thank you so much for your patience and when the ending arrives - fingers crossed for soon - I hope it will be satisfying._

_By the way, if you're curious about one of the side projects that unfortunately had to demand my attention, it's available on Amazon. **http (colon-slash-slash) amzn (dot) to (slash) HjLYO1**_


	16. Duels of Honor: Part 2

_**A/N**: Thanks for being very, very patient. If it's been awhile, I recommend re-reading Duels of Honor (Part One) before you start, because there's no recap._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Duels of Honor<strong>_  
><em>(Part Two)<em>

* * *

><p><em>let the only sound be the overflow<em>  
><em>Florence + The Machine, "What the Water Gave Me"<em>

* * *

><p>The first flaw in their plan comes to light when Appa will not fly into the Capital. "What's wrong with him?" Zuko demands as the sky bison roars and tries his hardest to buck against Katara's hold on the reins.<p>

"Appa doesn't like fire," she says.

There is indeed fire _everywhere_. Even from a distance - and they are still a long way from the island, from here the harbor appears no larger than the Spirit Oasis - the flames shoot into the air in dancing orange colors, clear against the darkened sky.

Anxiety makes Katara's hands shake, but only just. "Are they fighting?" she asks nervously. There should not be a battle here.

Zuko narrows his eyes in the direction of the city, and, after a moment of contemplation, lets out a rusty chuckle. "No," he says, sounding strangely amused. "They're playing."

_"Playing?_"

"It's the comet. I think everyone is having fun with their bending powers."

Katara opens her mouth, then closes it. "They're going to destroy the city," she says finally, watching as blaze after blaze rises above the buildings.

"This is the _Fire Nation_, Katara. We don't build our houses with things that burn."

Nothing will encourage Appa to edge closer. He simply circles at what he must consider to be a safe distance from the conflagration, whining piteously whenever Katara tries to coax him into compliance. Zuko comments on her driving abilities, and she offers to throw him from the saddle and let him swim to shore.

Eventually there is nothing for it; the sky bison is at least willing to settle on the south side of the island, so close to the cliffs Katara nearly stumbles a hundred feet into the ocean. She changes into her Fire Nation clothes, out of Zuko's view; being naked in the light is different, somehow, and even the memory of pleasure in Katara's body doesn't make the idea comfortable.

Zuko straps his broadswords to his back and pulls a hooded cloak over his head to hide his scar; Katara ties on her waterskin and tucks his ebony-handled dagger into her robes. That is all they take.

They begin the long run towards the city.

* * *

><p>The second flaw in the plan comes when they get lost.<p>

"I can't believe you don't know how to get there," Katara hisses as they slink along the rooftops of the harbor. Here there is less celebration; sailors are busy unloading ships, farmers are hauling baskets of cabbage, merchants with singed hair are being none-too-gentle with enormous fireworks. "How can you get lost in your own capital?"

Zuko glares at her. "We're going that way," he says testily. He points up towards the basin of the volcano, which seemed very close when they landed but now just climbs higher and higher in front of their eyes.

"I figured out _that _much. Which street are we supposed to take?"

Silence.

If she could let go of the shingles she would smack her forehead. "I thought you grew up here!"

A burst of flame rockets past their heads, and Zuko subtly deflects it before it singes Katara's robes. "I was brought on a covered palanquin whenever I had to come to the docks. I didn't need to know my way around."

They leap to the next building. The shadows brought on by the red sky protect them from prying eyes, though no one below cares enough to look. "What a stupid way of doing things," Katara grumbles. "How are you supposed to be a good Fire Lord if they never took you out to see the people?"

"It won't matter one way or another if we don't get to the Palace." Zuko sounds flatly peevish now. "_Azula_ will be Fire Lord and _she _can worry about the people."

There has to be a faster way to manage this. Katara glances at the passing carts below. "Okay. I'll get us a ride."

"You'll what?"

She climbs down from the rooftop, joining unnoticed the workers streaming to the west, and moves closer to where wagon after wagon progresses up the road. Most are heaps of fresh, bright-eyed fish, some still helplessly flapping their tails.

Katara meanders along and whistles a fishing song as she does, flashing girlish smiles at the men in the carts. She learned the tune while traveling. It is not so different from the songs the men sang in her village - new notes, but a rhythm tied to the beat of a paddle. The Water Tribe icebergs and the Fire Nation islands both rose from the sea.

She slips away from Katara of the South and slides effortlessly into Ling of the Colonies.

The fifth passing driver offers her a lift.

* * *

><p>The progress is slow up the zagging road of the mountainside, but it's faster than walking, and they receive no curious glances from the passersby. They're just two more citizens on their way to the coronation festivals.<p>

"Your brother's not much of a talker," the old man remarks, glancing back to where Zuko sits. Unagi intended for the celebration spills into the Prince's lap with every jostle of the cart.

"He's mute," says Katara. "Never says a word. It's very sad." She calls: "I said it's _very sad_, isn't it, Appa?"

Zuko nods curtly, his face still hidden.

Katara's expression is sorrowful as she turns back to the fisherman. "Tragic. So what were the tides like this morning?"

* * *

><p>When they reach the city proper they are nearly crushed by the wildly energized crowds.<p>

There will never be another celebration like this. Sozin's Comet; the end of a war; the crowning of a new Fire Lord, _without _an accompanying funeral and white mourning. No matter how an individual might feel about the details of the world's new era, it's impossible not to be swept up in the carnival atmosphere: the smell of roast duck from the street vendors, the sound of music from tsungi horns, the shouts and laughs and the bright waving banners of both Fire Nation tradition and the Phoenix King's proud new insignias.

It's beautiful, and were Katara not about to overthrow the government, she thinks she might even enjoy it. If she could find food that didn't burn her tongue from her mouth.

The mob provides better camouflage than the shadows; even as the bustling people bump into them, even when they _smile _at them with the camaraderie of national pride, they are not noticed, not really. Katara's skin and eyes are probably excused as the sign of a colonist; Zuko pulls his hood lower. "They're all having so much fun," she murmurs to the Prince, somewhat disturbed at how much regret she suddenly feels. She's about to ruin their day. A year ago this wouldn't have bothered her, but that time is long past. These people aren't monsters. They're just people.

Cheers erupt as someone accidentally sets off a round of fireworks. Sparks rain down; most of the crowd ducks, but Katara, used to far more dramatic displays of flame, doesn't even flinch. It's this mistake - standing a head above everyone else - that exhibits the third flaw in their plan.

"Hey, Ling!" calls a vaguely familiar voice. Katara looks down the street to see a short, good-looking girl with delicate spectacles perched on her nose. The girl waves.

Chiya, from Ember Island.

Katara curses under her breath.

"Hey, Ling!"

Zuko glances at Katara. "Who's Ling?"

"Long story." She waves back to Chi-Chi with a smile, gestures to the crush between them - _I can't come over, too busy! _- then grabs Zuko's hand and drags him into an alley way. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

To her surprise, Zuko manages to swallow his questions until they're several blocks away - but when he speaks it's in exactly the stiff tone she's anticipated. "Who was that?"

"A friend." The houses are growing steadily taller, with larger windows and brighter paint on their walls; the opulence is obvious, even from the back.

"You have friends in the Fire Nation?"

They start picking their way through the trash cans. "Yes. Lots of them, actually." The noise is still deafening, but now they're out of sight, which is where they have to stay. They've been careful about Zuko. It never occurred to Katara that _she _might be the one recognized.

Another set of fireworks explodes overhead, dripping and golden.

"How did that happen?"

"How did what happen?"

"You. Making friends."

She gives him a look. "I talked to them," she says. "It's really not that hard." That puts a dark expression on his face, so she adds, "A lot of them are hoping _you'll _rule, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah. There's people who don't like the war, and who don't like your sister or your father. They're mostly further away from the capital, and they don't have a lot of power, but... still, isn't that kind of thing important?"

Zuko says: "You seem to know more about my country than I do." It's a miserable statement, and a true one in some ways, which makes it worse.

Katara stops to face him. "_You _can learn all this stuff too," she insists. "I mean, I picked it up just traveling for a month. And everyone will like you if you give them a chance."

"It don't care if they like me."

It is by far the least believable lie Zuko has ever told.

There's no point in arguing with him when he's in this sort of mood - at least not when they're short on time. Better to change the subject. "How much longer?" The cobblestones don't give way like grass or sand or snow; her feet are killing her.

"Not far." He points to their right, where a slender lane will force them to edge sideways. "We're right by the Palace. The Coronation Plaza's to the northwest-"

A hand comes from nowhere and grabs her collar; both she and Zuko are yanked into the house at their backs. Before she can think to bend she's shoved against a wall and feels the keen edge of a blade at her throat.

Mai looks at Zuko. Her nose wrinkles. "You smell like a dead eel," she complains.

* * *

><p>The windows of Mai's home look out over the Fire Palace, a gold monolith that stabs at the burning sky. This severity of the structure is softened by a thousand waving red and yellow flags, the parade passing from the gates, the laudation of the rank and file as they prepare to crown their new queen.<p>

Katara fights down the fear. She keeps the blood in her veins cold.

"Why aren't you two at the ceremony?" asks Zuko, having sheathed his swords after Ty Lee squealed with joy at their arrival.

"Are you kidding?" Mai says. "The formal coronation rituals take hours. You couldn't pay me to go."

"Plus, we can't be out in _that._" Ty Lee cringes, which makes the petals of her skirt flutter. "They told the non-benders to stay home till the comet's gone. But Zuko! Azula is going to be _so_ happy you came!" She bites her lip as she glances at Katara, and apologetically adds, "She won't be so happy about you. You should probably hang out with us today." Taking Katara's stare of disbelief for approval, she brightens instantly and says, "But maybe later we can all get together and - and take a big trip to Ember Island, or something. I _know _after that we'll be friends."

"Yes," says Mai witheringly to the pink-clad optimist. "I'm sure building sandcastles will stop Azula from wanting to kill Zuko's girlfriend." A startled look from Zuko, and she elaborates, "Haven't you heard? She wants your Waterbender's charbroiled head on a spear."

"I'd like to see her try," says Katara.

She would.

"What does Katara have to do with anything?" Zuko demands.

Mai stares at him, then sighs. "If you really don't know, I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain." Katara watches as the sour-faced girl critically scans Zuko head-to-toe. "The procession is already on the way to the Plaza," she says out of nowhere, pointing out the window. "Are you really planning to show up dressed - and smelling - like _that?_"

"I'm not going there to make a social call." Zuko shrugs. His thoughts are clearly a thousand miles away - no, Katara corrects herself, just _one _mile, traveling with the parade. "It doesn't really matter how I look."

"Don't be ridiculous," Mai snaps. "Of course it matters how you look. And what you say, and _how_ you say it- haven't you thought this through at _all_?"

"What difference will it make?" asks Katara. They're going to storm the place and take the Princess down before she becomes Fire Lord. It's difficult, but not complicated. Besides, their clothes will probably be ruined in the process anyway.

Though it _would _be nice if Zuko didn't stink. But maybe he'll make Azula nauseous.

Mai makes a noise of utter disgust. "Come on," she says to Zuko. "Some of my father's old robes might work. Ty Lee..." She trails off, narrows her eyes at Katara, and shakes her head. "Never mind. It's not like they won't know what _she _is." And she leads a protesting Fire Prince from the room.

Katara really doesn't like that the best knife specialist in the world is taking Zuko out of her sight, but he can take care of himself, especially on the day of Sozin's Comet. Probably. "I don't get it," she says. "What's the big deal?"

Ty Lee doesn't answer; instead she sits down on the back of the couch, the open window behind her providing a grand view of the festivities. Another circle of fireworks explodes overhead. "Can I do your hair?" she asks excitedly.

Katara is still creeped out by Ty Lee - the girl can take away _bending _- but she bemusedly submits to the request, and allows the girl to undo her braid and pull her hair up, Fire Nation-style.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later Zuko is clean, dressed in ceremonial robes that are a little too big for him, and, Katara has to admit, looking a lot more like royalty than an infiltrator about to stage a coup.<p>

"Oh, Mai," breathes Ty Lee, "you were right. Azula's going to like that _so _much better."

Mai ignores the statement. Katara harbors no doubts that she knows exactly what Zuko is about to do. "Leave your swords here," she tells Zuko; he nods, and hands them over without a word. Mai gingerly places them on a side table.

That is a _terrible _idea. "But what if you need them?" Katara protests.

"Do you _want _everyone to think he can't bend?" Mai shoots back.

"Wait! Wait wait wait!" Suddenly Ty Lee is searching all over the room, making squeaks of distress. "_Your _hair! Mai, how could you forget?"

Zuko groans. "Don't be ridiculous-"

"No, she's right," Mai says, interrupting him. "You look like you've been camping for months with a bunch of peasants."

Both Zuko and Katara bristle at that, but he capitulates with a scowl as Ty Lee jerks him down to the couch and starts tying a formal top knot.

Mai catches Katara's eye and they step to the side. "He's the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation," says the other girl. Her hair reflects the crimson light shining through the windows. "But he won't seem like it if you're there."

"I'm not letting him go alone." It's not even a question.

"Just because political games bore me doesn't mean I don't understand them. Azula is already at the Plaza. Everyone who matters will be watching, and you're going to make him look weak." Katara doesn't reply; after a moment, Mai shrugs. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

She _is _warning them. Even though she's one of Azula's best friends. Katara has to ask: "What are you doing?"

Mai watches as Zuko stands and smoothes out his robes. "Saving the jerk who never noticed me," she answers.

* * *

><p>Ty Lee embraces Katara enthusiastically as the challengers to the throne depart. "Try not to get murdered!" she advises.<p>

Mai does not hug.

* * *

><p>They could sneak to the Coronation Plaza. Katara thinks they should sneak. Katara would feel a <em>lot better <em>if they were sneaking, which she tells Zuko repeatedly.

But it seems Zuko has decided to take Mai's advice. His borrowed clothes don't have a hood; he doesn't even hide his scar as they walk through the thoroughfare, and there is a steely expression on his face that Katara recognizes from the days he chased her - no, Aang - no, maybe her - around the world.

They're attracting attention.

Some people stop in their tracks, nudge the friends at their sides, and point. Some people whisper behind their hands. Once their Prince is identified their focus turns to the girl at his side, the one whose Fire Nation silks don't make her look Fire Nation.

The whispers grow louder, but the crowd parts for them, and soon the would-be Fire Lord and his mysterious companion are being followed by an entourage of the curious who were not important enough to warrant an invitation to the ceremonies. Something is obviously about to happen, and no one intends to miss it.

"Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

There's five hundred things she wants to say, but Katara goes with: "I've got your back."

His lips twitch into a faint smile.

The gates that cut the Coronation Plaza from the street are enormous gold slabs carved with clawed dragons; statues of ancient Fire Lords loom overhead, casting everyone into shadow, and the enormity of what they're about to do strikes Katara once more. She wishes she were back in her igloo, eating Gran-Gran's seal steaks and waiting for the sun to return. She wishes she'd never heard of the Avatar.

But Zuko, if anything, looks more confident. She can talk to people in the marketplace and the little towns the world over, but this is the Crown Prince's element. It _looks _like his home.

A single imperious glance is enough to make the guards bow respectfully and open the way. Their manner towards Katara is more uncertain, but she raises her chin as she passes, judging it best to follow Zuko's lead - for the time being, at least. It works. Their nods to her are just as deferential.

The guards can't close the doors against the rabble following behind. They follow Zuko and Katara, not out of support, but eager interest. Katara hopes it will be mistaken for something else, because when they cross through a marble-columned pavilion and take in the sight beyond, she realizes they're going to need every bit of reinforcement they can get.

As always, the first thing she notices is the water - she always knows where water is. Here it runs in long rectangular reservoirs up and down the parade ground, surrounded by tiny flames that lick at the edges without burning the wood. There is water beneath her feet, too. She can feel it in her fingertips.

But there is _so much more _than water. As they enter they go unnoticed by the hundred hooded men and women standing with a hundred tall banners, silently facing the enormous temple at the other side of the plaza. On the high steps kneels a red figure before an old man, whose voice carries effortlessly through the air.

_"By decree of the Phoenix King, I now crown you Fire Lord-"_

_"My name is Zuko, son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai, Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne."_

Well, everyone's noticing them _now_.

* * *

><p>Azula rises, and as her face comes into focus, Katara can see something like a edged delight. Her body looks bigger for being weighed down in ancestral armor. "Zuko," she says in a mockingly affectionate way, "You've come home to swear fealty, I see."<p>

They make their way through the staggered onlookers, all nobility and military present to pay homage to their new ruler. Zuko stops at the bottom of the stone stairs; Katara lingers two steps behind. "You aren't going to become Fire Lord today," he says. "I am."

She starts to laugh. "You're hilarious."

"I am the first born of the Fire Lord, Azula-" his tone holds more steel than his swords "-and still the Crown Prince."

"The Phoenix King chose _me _to rule the Fire Nation, Zuzu; that outweighs such a trifle as accident of birth order. Grandfather did the same for Father and Uncle, after all."

Mai's directives have done their job; Zuko looks every bit as royal as his sister as he responds: "Uncle conceded to our father with honor, Azula - but I'm not Uncle. I'm not conceding _anything _to you. This is my country, and I won't let you destroy it."

"Are you questioning my love of the Fire Nation?"

"Your love would burn the Fire Nation to the ground."

The siblings are holding each others' full attention, but Katara is free to take in the flabbergasted stares of the people around them: the soldiers, the rich, the rabble who followed them in. Most of those present must be firebenders, and Sozin's Comet shines overhead; if the crowd starts to take sides it will be ugly in a hurry. Though that assumes anyone would take their side.

"All right. You want to be Fire Lord? Fine." Azula's half-smile is mocking as she steps away from the Sages. "Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother: _Agni Kai._"

Zuko's smirk mirrors his sister's. "I don't think so. You had your chance in Ba Sing Se."

Mutters through the Plaza. To refuse an Agni Kai is apparently worthy of note.

"Did I? But I thought you wanted to do this the honorable way." She turns to the hooded man at her side, the one still holding the crown in wrinkled hands. "Challenges of succession are settled by duels - I'm _sure_ I read that _somewhere._"

The Sage nods.

_In the Fire Nation,_ Zuko said to Aang, _there are duels of honor called Agni Kai. You fight until one side yields. And sometimes that's it and it's over. But for the really big things, the person who loses dies._

A battle for the throne is a _really big thing_.

"You threw him into the Catacombs rather than fight him!" Katara shouts, sudden dread uncurling in her stomach. "You can't just change your mind now!"

Azula seems to notice the Waterbender for the first time, and her expression turns twisted and ugly. "Zuzu, are you letting your_ pet _speak for your honor?"

"She has more honor than either of us," Zuko snaps.

"Does she really. Is that why you brought her with you?" Azula gestures to the assembly with her pointed nails. "Are you planning to introduce everyone to their new Fire Lady?"

Katara freezes. The murmuring on the parade ground grows louder; dozens of glares are aimed in her direction. "Deny it," she says beneath her breath. "Quick." She gets Mai's warning now: they can defeat Azula, but that won't matter if the leaders of the nation won't accept the Crown Prince in her place.

"Yes, Zuzu, deny it. Tell them they won't be asked to bow to a South Pole peasant. Tell them all she's just your whore."

His hands clench. He doesn't respond.

"_Do it!_" It isn't as though he's ever hidden his wishes from her - when she didn't know it was because she didn't understand - but it is a very different thing to hear them spelled out in his silence. But what he wants doesn't matter, because if ever there was a time to lie, _this _is it...

...but it's Zuko. He can't lie. He isn't even _trying_.

That is the fourth flaw in their plan.

"Still don't want to keep her hidden, do you?" The Princess clicks her tongue sadly. "Oh, Zuzu. Just look at what you've become: a Royal Prince of the Fire Nation who can't rule unless a _Waterbender_ holds his hand. The country will be _so _impressed."

The rumbles of the crowd turn darker, the pale skin around Zuko's scar reddens, and fear turns Katara's body cold. She suddenly recognizes what Iroh meant when he said _bending _isn't the edge Azula holds over her brother. "She's playing you," Katara says in an urgent undertone. "She knows she can't take us both on, so she's trying to separate us."

Azula doesn't miss a beat. "If you can't defeat your baby sister by yourself, what kind of Fire Lord would you be?"

"Don't listen to her."

"I'll tell you: a weak Fire Lord."

The grumbles grow louder.

"Zuko, Azula always lies."

"A _dishonorable _Fire Lord."

"Azula always lies."

"A Fire Lord who was _lucky to be born_."

"Azula _always lies_-"

"Or," the Princess taunts sweetly, "we could skip the Agni Kai, and settle it with an apple on your peasant's head."

It's the fatal blow.

"You're on," Zuko says.

* * *

><p>"This is one of the duels where people die, isn't it."<p>

He doesn't answer. Azula's on the other side of the arena, standing at the bottom of the stone stairs with her head held high; two elderly, stooped women remove her armor and dress her for formal battle. Katara is the only one with Zuko, and she doesn't know the ritual. She watches as he takes off his shirt; he hesitates, then hands it to her.

Katara throws the shirt to the ground.

There's a pause before Zuko turns away and ties bands about his biceps. "Fine," he says. "Don't help."

"I'm _trying _to help! Even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula - you don't need to fight her alone!"

"I really do."

"_Why?_"

"Because she's right." One of the Sages approaches, holding a cloak; Zuko takes it with a nod while Katara turns away to keep from whipping the old man off his feet. Once he's gone Zuko continues, "If I'm too weak to win an Agni Kai, then I'll never be able to lead the Fire Nation."

This has _nothing _to do with the Fire Nation. He's about to get himself killed because he's too proud to back down and too ashamed to let his own actions speak for themselves and Katara wants to drag him out of here and spend the rest of their lives beating it into his thick skull that he isn't what Azula says he is. "You're not weak, Zuko," she says, "and you're not dishonorable. You don't have to prove anything!"

He arranges the rust-shaded silk over his shoulders. "You think I'm going to lose." His voice is either angry or sad.

"I think you're being stupid," Katara retorts. It's not really an answer, but she doesn't know how to say _You'll lose because you'll beat yourself. _"There's no reason we can't both take her down. We're better _together!_"

He looks at her for such a long moment that she wonders if maybe, _maybe _she got through - but all he does is give her a strange half-smile. "It's okay, you know."

"What is?"

"That you don't love me. It's okay. I don't mind."

It's hard to breathe, and the fissures that have been inside Katara's chest since the day she escaped crack apart like breaking bones as she admits, "I don't know what I feel."

A long beat. "Well," Zuko says finally, "that's okay too."

He steps forward and kisses her. It's quick, almost violent, and before Katara can respond he has already pulled away. They are in full view of the crowd. The arena has gone silent.

"Everyone saw that," she whispers.

"I don't care." And he leaves her, walking out from under the protection of the tiled roof to kneel on the sanded clay ground. In Agni Kai even bending a knee is done with pride.

If Zuko lives through this, Katara is going to murder him herself.

* * *

><p>The people disperse to the pavilions on either side of the Plaza, with a few even climbing the rooftops to get a better view. Bearing witness to Agni Kai is an ancient custom, but over half the throng has left; a battle to the death between two of the most powerful firebenders in the world on the day of Sozin's Comet will not be a spectator-safe event. Those who remain are held by the lure of the first duel for the throne in over two hundred years. Their grandchildren will tell <em>their <em>grandchildren about this day.

And of course the Fire Sages remain, expressions forever impassive.

The combatants stand. Azula removes her cape; the insignia looks like a real flame as it flutters to the ground. She is dressed identically to Zuko, aside from the tight swath of red that binds her chest. "I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother," she says, and if Katara didn't know the girl had devoted a lifetime to learning what buttons to press, she'd think Azula meant it.

"No," says Zuko. "You're not."

* * *

><p><em>Everyone <em>ducks when the first blasts explode into the air.

Over the roar she hears the cries of the bystanders. The benders present fight to block collateral damage, but ricocheting flares spiral in every direction, shooting across rafters, diving between pillars, shaking the ground. One does not fight fire with fire.

Katara _reaches _into the wooden reservoirs. The flames surrounding them wink out, and clear barriers of ice, twenty feet high, protect the people from the Agni Kai.

* * *

><p>Azula is stronger. There is more blue than orange, towering infernos that shoot far beyond the Plaza and out into the city streets, blinding to the eyes and blistering to the skin. She has discipline, focus, and sheer, raw power that wells up from some endless blaze of malice inside her heart.<p>

It would already be over, Katara realizes, if the Fire Princess had the slightest idea what her brother was doing.

There are no lashes or arcs. He stops the attacks with stable walls that lick and snap through the air; he calls flames that crash down from above in wave after conflagrating wave, until Azula has no choice but to pause her assault to disperse them. Stone-melting heat races along the ground, leaving cloudy glass in its wake, and she jumps only just in time to save her feet from being burned off at the ankle.

He wanted to learn new moves to use against Azula, and he has. Zuko is waterbending with fire.

But she catches on as Zuko conjures a tornado of sparks and sends it roaring in her direction. The redirection scorches the shingles of the pagoda. "You can't even _bend _like a Fire Lord!" she shouts, rage distorting her features into something feral.

"What's the matter?" he calls back. "Too much for you?"

She answers by jetting towards him faster than Katara's eye can follow; when he blocks with a careening wheel of flame the force knocks them both off their feet. Zuko lands on his back; Azula rolls for nearly twenty feet.

She rises first, hair loose and blowing dangled in the breeze. Blood drips from dozen scrapes across her shoulders and stomach; she pants for breath as Zuko struggles to all fours. "Don't get up," she commands. "Kneel to me, and I'll let you live."

There is no one present, including Katara, who doesn't understand the depth of the insult the Fire Prince has just been offered.

"Come home, Zuzu." Dark rivulets flow from her abdomen and drip to the broken clay beneath them. "Kneel, say you're sorry, and we'll forget about all of this. I'll even make you a general, just like Father did for Uncle. Come home. _I'll _restore your honor. It will be like it was."

Katara steps out from under the shelter of the pagoda, because she is Water Tribe and will kill Azula herself if she has to - but Zuko doesn't need her help to refuse. "I begged once at an Agni Kai," he says, getting to his feet. "I won't ever beg again." His back straightens as he resumes his grounded stance. "And I don't need _you _to tell me I'm honorable."

Azula's golden eyes widen, narrow, and flick to Katara; hatred all but shimmers in the atmosphere. "You'd rather have your _pet _than your family."

"_You're _the one who decided I can't have both," replies Zuko.

* * *

><p>Once, many years ago, one of the bearwolves that roamed the local fishing grounds suddenly charged the village, frothing at the mouth, trying to scale the ice walls. It had taken eight men to slay the rabid beast. Its crazed howling haunted Katara's dreams for months.<p>

Something snaps in Azula, and Katara only has a brief moment to think of the bearwolf before electricity begins to crackle through the air. The bright blue flashes stand out against the clouded crimson sky. "You should have feared me more than you loved her, brother!" she screams.

Zuko takes a slow breath and moves into position. Katara remembers, _In one arm. Through the stomach. Out the other arm._

Azula aims.

Not at her opponent.

Zuko dives in front of Katara and takes the lightning right in the chest.

* * *

><p>Attacking a spectator of Agni Kai is the ultimate dishonor.<p>

* * *

><p><em>"ZUKO!"<em>

Katara feels the name in her throat and sees it on Azula's lips. Ignoring tradition, custom, and whatever stupid rules the Fire Nation sees fit by which to kill each other, she runs for the fallen combatant-

-and is blasted back by an explosion of flame. "_Get away from us!_"

"Azula, I can help!" Katara feels as though she's repeating words from a past life, even though it was only six months ago that Iroh struck the ground in an abandoned Earth Kingdom town. If someone had told her then that she'd be standing _here _she would have accused them of midnight sun madness.

Azula prods Zuko with her foot. He groans, and she exhales with what Katara would swear is relief. "Zuzu," she says, the mocking tone back in her voice, "you don't look so good."

Katara tries to get around Azula and finds herself forced backward again. "I can heal him!" she cries. She has to heal him, she _has _to- "Get out of my way!"

But the Fire Princess bleeds insane triumph, deaf to the shouts of the people still watching from behind walls of ice, and steps very deliberately in front of her brother. "I'd really rather our family physician look after Little Zuzu, if you don't mind."

* * *

><p>The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation thinks in grand, symbolic concepts, like Honor, and War, and Family.<p>

The last Waterbender of the Southern Tribe is not driven by the abstract. When making a decision of a moment she does not care about the country's future, or the traditions of honorable dueling, or whether an absent parent will love or hate her for her actions. She thinks in the immediate.

The immediate is that Azula stands between her and Zuko.

There are channels beneath grates on both sides of the Plaza. "Get out of my way," she repeats, "or I'll go through you."

Azula almost looks as though she will laugh, her skin pale beneath the sheen of sweat and blood, but she moves into a shaky fighting stance. She says softly, "It was always you and me, wasn't it."

Katara raises her arms. "I think so."

The ice walls shatter and the iron grates rocket through the pavilion rooftops as Katara bends everything she can feel straight into the air.

* * *

><p>Anyone who doubts the power of water has never seen a tsunami. Water is a force of its own, and it does not give - it smothers flames, wears away stone, gains strength from wind.<p>

The only remaining spectators run for their lives.

Sozin's Comet was meant for the Fire Nation, not the Water Tribe. Even injured Azula has a precision Katara can't manage right now; the waves, which crush everything in their paths, do not touch her. Flying debris reduces to cinders in mid-air. When Katara uses her leg to bring down a twenty foot sword of ice it explodes into snow before it can strike.

Azula recognizes the move. "You want to firebend, Sparrowkeet?" Katara spins away, barely missing a blast of flame. "I'll _show_ you _firebending!_"

It's no different from fighting Zuko in the ship: a slipstream of elements crashing together, ten times bigger, but no different. Katara does not need to reform steam because the channels beneath the city are deep and long, connected to the distant ocean, pumped to the volcano by mechanized metal. The high pressure of the water rushing from underground forces ruptures that cave streets and crumble buildings. She spent months and months dueling Zuko. She knows her own strength.

The pavilions collapse entirely. Stone and shingles and broken pillars speed along airborne tides and punch holes through the walls of the Coronation Temple.

Still her feet slide backwards, because the entire world is burning.

* * *

><p>In the end the bombardments slam her off balance and into the wreckage. When she hits the edge of a fallen support beam there is a loud snap in her side. Pain shoots through her body, and she has to retreat.<p>

A current of ice carries her around the edge of the ravaged parade ground; Azula's blue fire follows her heels and burns the ends of her hair as she tries to keep ahead. The only structure still standing is the temple, and that is where the floe carries her. She ducks through the curtains just ahead of a fireball the size of Appa; the fabric bursts into flame behind her.

The rice paper windows are ash; the hall is littered with rubble. Katara ducks behind one of the posts and fights for air, her throat raw with smoke.

"Come out, peasant," calls the charmingly insane voice.

There's puddles everywhere, soaked in the rugs, running through holes in the ceiling. It wouldn't take much to bring down the roof and crush them both, but then who would heal Zuko? Someone has to heal Zuko.

A blast of turquoise lights the room. "I should have killed you in Ba Sing Se. This is what comes of being too nice."

The gold of the columns is cool against her hands. Sozin's Comet pulls her in all the wrong directions.

"I see what you are, you know. You think you'll use my brother to rule the Fire Nation. You've been twisting him around your filthy little finger from the beginning, but I _won't let you get away with it_."

The footsteps are getting closer. Katara coughs up a mouthful of blood; something inside her is broken. She fought Azula. It's a hazard.

But she can sense what's dripping from her chin as clearly as she can sense what's dripping through the roof.

"What are you waiting for? If you want Zuko so badly, then _face me!_"

She steps from behind the pillar to meet Azula's deranged grin. "There you are, Sparrowkeet," she says, and electricity arcs between her fingers, cracking the air with ozone-

-Katara reaches out, feels for the scrapes covering her adversary's stomach, and bends forth a dozen wet ruby ribbons that wind and twist between them.

Azula makes a horrible noise and loses control of her lightning.

* * *

><p>The Coronation Temple falls with a crash.<p>

* * *

><p>It takes too much time to claw her way out from the rubble. Katara doesn't know, or particularly care, what has become of Azula, because her ears are ringing and she has to heal Zuko.<p>

She drags herself free and staggers along the parade ground. The moment she drops to his side she knows there is no life inside him. She's back beneath Ba Sing Se, come full circle, and she doesn't have water from the Oasis to help her this time.

She lays her hands on the Firebender and puts every ounce of strength into the most important thing she's ever done.

But there is no life inside Zuko.

She thinks she says his name, she knows her mouth forms it, but she can't hear the word aloud. Her vision goes blurry and she remembers that stupid play and thinks _Tearbending_. It isn't supposed to end like this for them. It's _not_. He can't give up without a fight.

Katara pauses.

Her head spins as she pulls a knife from her robes and slices a shallow line along the Fire Prince's shoulder_; Made in Earth Kingdom _is the inscription that faces her as she does. The moon is not full - she would never have been able to find his blood if she could not feel it directly; it only barely oozes forth, but when Katara presses her palm to the incision and allows fluid to seep through her fingers, it responds to her call. It is like following the pipes in the ship. Zuko is a million pathways of water.

She bends it through his veins.

It's sluggish. Whatever is damaged inside stabs with every attempt to inhale, and her vision is darkening around the edges, there is iron in her mouth but she has never given up on the people she loves and she is not starting with _him_.

"Wake up," she mumbles. She forces his lungs to expand. She squeezes - too hard - on his heart. _Tearbending. _"Please wake up-"

-the cut starts to flow the way it should, the way it does if there is a muscle pumping in his chest.

Zuko's eyes snap open. "Katara?"

She has time for one weak smile before she passes out.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: Only the epilogue(s) left, guys. Also, I still haven't watched Legend of Korra, and remain committed to not doing so until this is finished._


	17. Hot Leaf Juice

_**Pre-A/N**: Guess what story isn't dead!fic? Welcome to the beginning of the end of this series! We're starting off with a missing scene brought to us by the endless good graces of Like A Dove. Three part epilogue to follow.  
><em>

_This scene takes place during **Duels of Honor (Part One)**._

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN**: Hello, Like A Dove here! And with a small update! The lovely audreyii-fic asked me to write a little missing scene between Zuko an Iroh sometime ago, and I was only too happy to oblige._

Hope everyone likes! Poor Zuko. No one stands a chance against the all-knowing Uncle Iroh.

* * *

><p><span><em><strong>Hot Leaf Juice<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>I was never angry with you. I was sad because I was afraid you lost your way.<em>

_I did lose my way._

_But you found it again. And you did it by yourself. And I am so happy you found your way here._

* * *

><p>Zuko doesn't like to cry in front of people, if he can help it. He doesn't like to cry at all, really.<p>

He can remember one of the last times he cried in front of someone pretty clearly. He'd been a kid—maybe six or seven—and he'd cut his knee while playing in Mother's garden. Seeing his own blood gush down his leg had scared him and the tears had naturally come.

He can remember the scathing look of disapproval on his father's face. "Dry your tears," his father had ordered. "Royal men of the Fire Nation do not cry over things such as _cuts_."

So Zuko had dried his tears, and after that day he made a valiant effort not to cry in front of his father again.

Of course, the very last time he'd cried in front of Ozai was when he had been on his knees, begging him not to fight him in that Agni Kai.

Look where that had got him.

* * *

><p>Zuko swallows thickly and scrubs at his face with the back of his hands. He'd cried. He'd cried, and yet Uncle is still watching him with his kind, patient smile. In fact, Iroh's eyes look a little misty themselves.<p>

After all the dampness has been rubbed away from his cheeks, Zuko casts his gaze about the tent, suddenly unsure of what to say. A part of him feels dizzy, as if an agonizingly heavy weight has just been lifted off of his chest. Another part feels tentative, willing to please. This is his Uncle, his _true_ father, and right now Zuko can't think of anything to say. Maybe everything that needs to be said has already been spoken.

But Uncle, being Uncle, doesn't let the silence last long. The old man gestures to a tea set in the corner, and Zuko feels his lips twitch. Of course there's a tea set in Uncle's tent. Of course.

"I have heard from some very reliable sources that you learned to properly brew after you... left Ba Sing Se. Perhaps you could make some for the both of us, my nephew? "

"Um." Zuko feels heat spread across his cheeks. Those meetings with Katara back on the ship feel like a lifetime ago. Besides, during those meetings his mind hadn't necessarily been focused on _tea_. "Okay. Sure."

It's not like tea is difficult to make. You have the leaves, and the water, and you steep it or something, and you wait until it gets hot. And then there's tea.

Annoying that he messed it up for so long.

Whatever. Zuko is just happy to have something to do with his hands.

Uncle crosses laces his fingers over his lap. "How has your journey been so far?" he asks.

"Er, it's been good. Fine."

"And I understand you brought Hakoda's daughter with you."

Uh-oh. "Yes. No. Sort of," Zuko blurts out quickly. "I mean, I didn't _bring_ her, I was going to come alone, but she wouldn't let me. That happens sometimes."

Iroh raises an eyebrow. "She's a rather _feisty_ young lady, isn't she?"

And Zuko falls for it. He falls right into the trap. "Yeah," he snaps, bristling just a little bit, because it _almost_ sounds like Uncle disapproved and no one is allowed to disapprove of Katara. "But, I don't know, I think that's a good quality to have. She's is really stubborn, annoyingly so, and unwavering, but that makes her a strong person. Stronger than anyone else I've ever met." He's starting to babble, but he can't help himself, because he _never_ gets to talk about her. "And it makes her a strong fighter, too. When we spar there will be moments when I'll think I have the upper hand, or when I just know that I've tired her out, she'll come back at me with everything she has. And just when I've thought that I've won she'll…"

Zuko trails off at the happy, every so slightly smug expression on Uncle's face.

He snaps his mouth closed. He hasn't _admitted _to anything, not exactly, but he's still basically revealed everything ever. Because Uncle always _knows_.

There's a twinkle in Uncle's eye.

Zuko knows to always be wary when there's a twinkle in Uncle's eye.

"When I first met your Aunt, Prince Zuko…"

Oh, dear Agni. No.

"…we were quite the opposites in many ways. At times, I found her quite frustrating. There were many issues where, no matter how hard we each tried to compromise with the other, we just couldn't see eye to eye." He laces his fingers over his belly and raises his eyebrows, like a brilliant thought has _just_ occurred to him. "You know, she was a lot like young Katara, now that I think about it—"

"Uncle."

"—but despite everything I still wanted to be with her. And she wanted to be with me. And we fit together like pieces of a pai sho board. Do you know why, Prince Zuko?"

Zuko traces his finger along the edge of the tea kettle and tries not to fume too obviously. He doesn't answer, which doesn't matter. Uncle will tell him anyway.

"Because she _challenged_ me - and because of that, we understood one other. To understand and respect someone is a high honor we can give to another person, and a high honor that we can receive in return."

"That's great, Uncle."

Uncle Iroh beams, and if he picked up on the sarcasm then he doesn't show it. "Love, my nephew, is something that all human beings crave."

"I didn't say anything about love," Zuko mutters. Not that it matters. He can't even hide it from _Sokka_ anymore, let alone Uncle.

Iroh continues as though Zuko didn't speak. "It is best to treat relationships with the reverence that they deserve," he says placidly, "while always knowing that we will never master the art of relationships, because to master the art of relationships is to be, essentially, perfect."

Uncle is impossible to understand when he gets philosophical. "The _art_ of relationships? What does that even mean?"

The twinkle in Uncle Iroh's eyes are back again. "Is the tea ready, my nephew? I find myself very thirsty at this moment."

Sighing, Zuko pours out the tea and then hands one clay cup to his Uncle. Zuko sips his own tea and mulls over Uncle's words. There's an art to relationships…

What. The hell.

Zuko doesn't notice Uncle blanch as he sips Zuko's tea. He only looks up when Uncle has a brief coughing fit.

"Did I make it wrong?" Zuko asks. His own cup tastes fine to him.

Iroh stills and watches his nephew for a moment… until a genuine smile spreads across his face. "No, my nephew," he says, and with pride. "The tea is delicious."


	18. Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part One

_ ** Who I Am (or Who I Was) ** _  
><em> (Epilogue Part One) <em>

* * *

><p><em>Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet.<em>  
><em>-Vietnamese Proverb<em>

* * *

><p>She walks in circles - no, in rectangles. The courtyard is a rectangle. She walks in <em>circular rectangles<em>, spiraling inward, taking off the sharp edges of her stride as it narrows and narrows, shrinks and shrinks, until she leaps onto the edge of the fountain and tiptoes along stone, arms flung wide. The red silk of her top flutters; the redder scars on her abdomen shine. Those marks wouldn't exist if she hadn't refused treatment after the Sages pulled her from the Coronation Temple, but she'd flame-broil herself before she let another Waterbender lay a dirty finger on her skin.

_Are you paying attention to me?_

"Should I be, brother?" Her words chirp, like the messenger hawks she shoots down in bursts of smoke and feathers whenever they are foolish enough to fly into _her_ realm, _her_ personal little Nation, all thousand square feet of it. Azula is no fool; she knows the messenger hawks are actually enemy spies. Spies sent by the prancing dancing spinning killing Avatar and that wretched tribal peasant. But once she is done with them, the spies cannot twitter back with their little twitter tales. And they are _delicious_ in inferno chili sauce. "Do you suddenly have something interesting to say?"

_Come on, Azula. Try to listen. Do you know why I'm here?_

"Yes, dum-dum, of _course_. You want me to come home _just_ long enough to bow and scrape to your precious waterbending whore." She smells the sudden smoke of his rage, and she _ignores_ the sudden smoke of his rage. He doesn't frighten her and never will. "Will you let me be a bridesmaid at your wedding? Would you like that? Maybe I can give a _toast_ to your happiness. We'll even have a brand new family portrait painted while I'm there - you know, before you ship me back here in a metal crate with holes poked in the lid."

_There's not... I haven't even... Look, this has nothing to do with Katara. You're my sister. I'd like it if you came to the coronation. Is that so hard for you to believe?_

Her tiptoes almost falter on the stone. "Why?" she asks, focusing on the vile spurts of water shining in the sun and not on his stupid scarred face. "It's not like you ever cared what _I_ thought." He can't trick her; he wants her at his ceremony for the exact same reason she wanted _him_ at _hers_: so the country won't question the royal succession. But the Fire Nation is _hers_, it was _always_ going to be hers, Father said so from the day of her first bending lesson, the day he smiled and called her _his Little Fire Lord..._

…but now it is _Zuko_ will sit on the throne. Unworthy Zuko. Weak Zuko. Zuko, Mother's Favorite. Zuko, held in thrall by a southern bumpkin who pulls his strings and makes him dance like a puppet at a Fire Days Festival. Azula sees what is happening; after all, _she_ has pulled Zuko's strings since they were babies playing in the sand. No one else is allowed to hold them. Zuko is _hers_. "You see, brother, I don't really _care_ whether the Fire Nation accepts you. And it doesn't matter anyway - _everyone_ knows _you_ won't be the one in charge."

_This isn't going to work, Azula. Can't you just-_

"Did you ever figure out _why_ Father despised you, Zuko?" She executes a quick twirl on the tip of her boot; Ty Lee couldn't have done it more elegantly. Her _friend_ Ty Lee; her _friend_ Mai. They sold her out in the end. Trust is for fools. "It's the same reason Grandfather named Uncle after Grandmother instead of a proper _royal_ title. And why Uncle never remarried, even though he only had one heir." _Generations_ of weak men. It was a daughter's turn to sit on the throne. "Father loved our mother. He loved her more than _anything_ or _anyone_."

_That's not true. It's Father's fault Mother is gone._

"No, it's _your_ fault Mother is gone, dum-dum. Father told me. He was supposed to know the pain of losing a firstborn son, but Mother offered herself to Azulon instead. Father _worshiped_ her, but she decided to die for _you_." Twirl, twirl, twirl along the fountain's edge. "Wasn't the first time, either. Did you ever listen to the whispers, Zuko? You almost killed our mother _the day you were born_. It took her _months_ to recover, but did she care? No. She just cared about her _son_. Father would rather have dropped you in the ocean. He never loved you."

But _she_ loved him. Well, sort of_._ She had _looked out_ for him, which was more important, really. He was weak, stupid, spineless, had no business ruling a country, but she'd done her best to help him. All he'd had to do was step aside and bow to her. He would have been her general. Her only confidant. Zuzu could be trusted... or so she'd thought. "But go ahead. Make the sparrowkeet a Fire Lady. Wait for her to spawn a _waterbending_ heir. She'll never look at you again. And _you'll hate the brat as much as Father hated you._"

_I'm not going to listen anymore. You always lie. Even when you tell the truth._

"Tell yourself whatever you want, brother." Azula executes a clean backflip off the ledge; the fire she trails in her wake evaporates the water in the fountain and leaves only charred stone behind. But she is careful, oh so careful, not to allow the flames to touch the covered walkways. The guards will block her chi again if she doesn't. The courtyard is the only place she is permitted to firebend. Ember Island is the only place she's permitted to live. "Just wait: one day you'll see things my way. You'll be sorry you didn't listen to your little sister."

_...it's getting late. I've got to get back to the capital._

"What?"

_I'll come visit again when I can._

"No! I don't give you permission to leave!"

_Goodbye, Azula._

"Don't walk away from me, Zuzu!" she screams, sparks at her fingertips. "Don't you _dare_ walk away from me!"

_..._

"Come _back!_"

_…_

* * *

><p>The guards in the walkway glance at each other, then back at the exiled Fire Princess, who shoots fire at phantoms and shouts at thin air.<p>

"Who is she talking to?" the newer guard says, uncertain. He was added to the security team only two days ago, after the princess's latest escape attempt left one sentry with a dislocated shoulder and the second floor in shambles.

"Today? Her brother."

"But I thought he left two weeks ago?"

"He did," replies the older guard. "This is just what the Princess does."


	19. Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part Two

_ ** Who I Am (or Who I Was) ** _  
><em>(Epilogue Part Two)<em>

* * *

><p><em>It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.<em>  
><em>-Confucius<em>

* * *

><p>There are things that Mai does <em>not<em> do.

One of them is pine.

Okay, so, yeah, she's disappointed about Zuko. She'd had a crush on him when she was younger, and she might - _might_ - have shed a few tears when he was banished. And it might - _might _- be that one of the reasons she'd gone with Azula was to meet up with him again. Just to show him what he'd been missing out on all these years. Maybe impress him with her knife-throwing abilities. Maybe turn her nose up a bit and make him think about how she wasn't a blushing little girl anymore.

Maybe.

And she might - _might_ - have occasionally thought about slicing off the Waterbender's hair with a wayward shuriken.

Maybe.

Still, if there's anything to cure a girl of regret over not being the Fire Lord's girlfriend, it's having to stand through a two hour coronation ceremony and then mingle afterwards with the movers and shakers of upper-crust society, cup of mango juice in hand, expected to participate in the intricate kabuki dance of _politics_.

The Fire Lady will have to do this _all the time_, and, frankly, Mai would rather be thrown into a pit of elbow leeches.

So even though Zuko wears his armor well and his half-smile is as endearing as it's ever been, the glint of gold in his hair reminds Mai of what he is now, and what his life will be from here on out.

Nope. No regrets.

Mai does not pine.

She _does_, however, remove herself from the festivities as much as possible, choosing to lounge against one of the marble columns of the Palace celebration hall, obscured safely by the shadows.

Sue her if she's not feeling too celebratory.

Tomorrow, she's going to have to leave.

_I tried_, Zuko had told her and Ty Lee, _I really did. But the Earth Kingdom's not going to be satisfied until you're both in prison._

Ty Lee gasped, wide eyes widening. _Why?_

_Um, it **could** be because we led the coup of Ba Sing Se,_ Mai had replied caustically. _And then gave the city to the Fire Nation._

_Oh. Yeah. Oopsie._

_But the thing is, I can't arrest you before the coronation,_ Zuko had said. _Your families are too powerful to insult. The Earth Kingdom understands that. And then, if you were to, say, disappear before I sent the guards to your house… they probably wouldn't be surprised if you eluded capture. They know how tricky you both are._

More politics. Always politics.

Still, Mai has lived and breathed the pai sho maneuverings of government since she was old enough yawn at her father's council meetings, and it doesn't take a genius to see that this is the best deal she and Ty Lee are likely to get. It doesn't even bother her _that_ much in the grand scheme of things; after all, one can't come up with a better excuse for avoiding one's parents than evading prosecution for war crimes.

And Ty Lee, once she realized that her beloved traveling circus was the perfect place to remain on the move and incognito, cheered up instantly. Which was great for her. Even if she couldn't comprehend why spending all your time watching a performing platypus bear laying eggs wasn't the most _amazing_ way of life, it would be _anyone's_ idea of paradise, and oh Mai they really _need_ someone to do knife tricks it would be _so_ perfect and _you've just GOT to come too!_

Mai will miss Ty Lee - no, really, she will - but living with a circus sounds even less appealing than prison.

But she has to go somewhere.

It's all right. She's traveled before. Admittedly, that was with Azula and Ty Lee - her best and only friends - but she doesn't _need_ them.

She doesn't _need_ anyone.

She'll be just fine on her own.

Really.

She take another gulp of her mango drink and wishes it were a Spark Bomb. Azula would have at least made this party _interesting_... but, well, that's that. Azula was her friend, but in the end she would have destroyed the Fire Nation from the inside out. Helping Zuko become Fire Lord was Mai's first and last great act of patriotism.

Mai didn't mean for her to go crazy.

Yeah. Spark Bombs would help. Or cactus juice. She's heard good things about cactus juice.

It's a _little_ bit of comfort that she's not the only one miserable at this party. Sure, Iroh looks perfectly happy chatting up all the lords and ladies who'd spent the last seven years snickering behind his back, and the Waterbender's brother - the idiot with the boomerang - blabbers about map-making to anyone even remotely interested, oblivious to their bemusement. Two peas in a pod.

The Avatar, too, is a beacon of serenity, saffron linen in a sea of crimson silk. He doesn't act like the irritatingly bouncy kid Azula had described, and he answers what have to be impertinent questions from the Sages with a lot more calm than Mai could have shown in his situation. That's probably why he's the Avatar and she's not. Among other reasons.

And Ty Lee bounces from person to person, probably forgetting how it's supposed to be a _secret_ that they're sneaking away in a few hours and saying goodbye to everyone and anyone.

Okay, so almost everyone else is cheerful.

But only _almost_. Above it all on his new throne, Zuko keeps glancing at the entryways to the hall. All of them. Every five seconds. Or less. Like he's waiting for someone.

Mai can't _imagine_ who it might be.

She rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, that's basically what I think, too."

Mai does not jump - she doesn't do that either - but she _is_ surprised to discover the Kyoshi Warrior standing next to her. Not many people can sneak up on Mai. "I doubt we're thinking the same thing."

"Sure we are," says the Warrior, who is in full formal dress for the occasion, white chalkpaint included. (Mai searches her memory and recalls the name _Suki_.) She nods towards Zuko, who's now shifting his weight from foot to foot and glancing at the entryway every _two_ seconds instead of five. "I don't know why he's not go looking for Katara," she remarks. "It's obvious he doesn't want to be here."

"He has to be," Mai replies. "It's his own coronation party. A Fire Lord can't just walk away from that; it's _tradition_." She doesn't bother to hide her contempt. What's the point, after all?

But Suki doesn't seem to mind; in fact, she chuckles. "That sounds awful. Glad it's his lot and not mine."

"You and me both."

They stand in semi-companionable silence for a few minutes, crowd-watching. Mai appreciates that Suki doesn't babble, though she _is_ the one to restart the conversation. "Where are you heading, after this?"

Does _everyone_ know she's been banished? "I'm weighing my options," she says. "I hear there's a fortune in badgermole breeding."

"Have you considered joining the Kyoshi Warriors?"

_What?_

Mai blinks, then turns to face Suki fully instead of just glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. "No. I haven't."

"You should." Suki's examining Mai's dress robes, and - even though Mai knows _very_ well they're concealed - clearly sees each and every place the outfit hides a weapon. (Stilettos in her sleeves, senbons in her sash, and a kunai in her left boot, just to shake things up.) "I've never seen skills like yours before. Unless, of course, it was a fluke."

A flick of Mai's wrist, and the hem of a nearby noble's kimono is pinned to the floor. He, and everyone nearby, will be in for a shock when he tries to move.

Suki smiles. "We could really use that."

"You _are_ aware I'm from the Fire Nation, right?"

"It hasn't slipped my mind," says Suki dryly. "But the war's over. The Kyoshi Warriors need new blood. And our uniform might be _colorful enough to make you nauseous_, but it's kind of useful for people who don't want to be recognized." She pauses, then turns her head and says to the shadows: "You can come too, if you'd like."

"No thanks." It's the short Earthbender. She steps forward, picks a clump of dirt out of her ear, and flicks it aside carelessly; it flies twenty feet to land in the glass of one of the courtesans. Mai's pretty sure that didn't happen by accident. "Not until you start using rockalanches in your fancy-schmancy warrior tricks. Besides, I've got my _own_ plans." She jerks her head in the general direction of the Waterbender's brother; he's started performing raunchy haikus to the delight of the crowd. "I'm gonna help Sokka find his space sword."

"Space sword?" Mai repeats, raising an eyebrow.

Suki frowns. "I didn't know you were going with him."

"Yup. He needs me." Toph is blind, so Mai's not sure whether she knows there's a smug expression on her face. "He knows _basically_ where it got dropped during the air battle, so we're going to stomp around the area for awhile. The space metal vibrations are pretty unique." The smugness grows into an open smirk. "Why? Jealous?"

"No, since he asked me to come first."

"Oh." Toph deflates slightly.

"I wanted to," Suki continues, and to her credit she does it very kindly, "but I have to get back to Kyoshi Island. Sokka promised to join me there as soon as he's done."

Toph's shoulders slump even more. "Right."

Well. This is awkward. Or would be, if Mai particularly cared; romantic triangles are just about as boring as politics. Which is why Mai refuses to participate in one.

Zuko has slipped away towards the balcony; when he pushes the curtains aside, Mai can see the outline of a figure in blue.

Mai does not pine. And she does not hang on boys in love with other girls.

After a moment, Suki turns and says: "I'm going to get back to the party. You'll think about it though, right?"

"I might." She will. Especially since being a Kyoshi Warrior could actually be _interesting_. Better than Ty Lee's circus, anyway. "If I have to use a fan, though, it's no deal."

"Understood."

Mai and Toph watch - or rather, she watches, and the Earthbender feels - as Suki makes her way to her boyfriend's side. Sokka throws an arm around her shoulders and keeps talking; Suki smiles.

"For the record," Toph says darkly, "as soon as I grow boobs, it's _on_."

Mai just shrugs.


	20. Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part Three

_ ** Who I Am (or Who I Was) ** _  
><em>(Epilogue Part Three)<em>

* * *

><p><em>At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.<em>  
><em>-Lao Tzu<em>

* * *

><p>The party bustles inside.<p>

She doesn't mind crowds, normally; people interest her, and always have. But tonight it's too much - especially when a clear, breezy night beckons.

From the balcony she looks out over the thousand distant that flicker through streets and rooftops. The teeth of the volcano's edge have long since blended seamlessly with the sky, but the capital lights itself in its own excitement. The hot-blooded Fire Nation embraces any excuse to celebrate, even the loss of a hundred years war (though few remember why they were fighting in the first place). Today a new Fire Lord was crowned; their soldiers will be coming home; and distribution of the palace's enormous store of rice wine has certainly helped ease any lingering worries over the future. However temporarily.

She leans against the railing and rests her chin on her fist. "You were right," she says.

There's a surprised noise behind her. (She can't help but smile - like she hadn't known he'd been back there for twenty minutes.) But he recovers quickly enough. "Right about what?"

"The Fire Nation." She points out at the city. "It _is_ beautiful."

Golden fireworks explode over the rebuilt Coronation Plaza. For half a moment they hold mid-air in a perfect circle, then drip down onto the houses below, sparking as they fall.

"They're happy tonight," he says, coming forward to stand next to her. He stares out at his nation. "But they celebrated for Azula, too. Who knows what they'll think next week."

"You probably shouldn't be running away from your own gala, then."

"I'm not _running away_, I'm... getting some air. Even Fire Lords need air."

She murmurs something non-committal.

The silence is long before he says, in entirely too casual tones: "Aang's leaving in the morning."

"I know." Part of her wants to correct him - to refer to this new, somber, unsmiling boy only as _The Avatar_. Ozai is dead and the Avatar lives, but the Aang she knew is gone. He sacrificed himself for the world. He'll never go penguin sledding again.

But no good comes of dwelling on that. As they have all learned, doing the right thing can come with a cost.

"Sokka and Toph are going with him as far as the Earth Kingdom. Then Dad sails in the afternoon. And Suki the next day." She tries to hold in the sigh; she doesn't succeed. "They want me to come, too."

"Who does?"

"All of them."

"Oh." He doesn't look at her, but his fingers tighten just a little against the railing. After a moment he glances over - not at her face, but rather her wrist, which is just visible along the edge of her sleeve. (She had new robes made up a week ago when she could no longer tolerate the heat in her Water Tribe furs; she'd insisted on having the silks dyed in blue, however. The request was obeyed instantly. The Fire Lord's servants cannot seem to bow to her low enough.)

"I'm fine," she answers his unspoken question, and pushes back the hem to show him. A blood-shaded blemish the size of a coin spiders across her skin, a tiny version of the one that marks his chest and Aang's back. It's the most visible of the dozen or so that are littered across her body. Souvenirs of her own Agni Kai. "How about you? How are you feeling?"

"Still hurts a little," he says, not bothering to lie. "But it's a lot better than it was."

"If you need another session-"

"You should work on your own injuries."

She smiles again, sadly this time. "They're scars. They can't be healed." Even if lightning marks could be easily repaired, she lost her chance. By the time she'd woken up - almost a week after Sozin's Comet - her wounds had closed. She would just have to live with them.

At least they're not on her face.

She doesn't say that out loud, of course.

This reminds her of something she's been meaning to mention; there's been precious little opportunity for a Fire Lo to speak in private. "Thank you, by the way. For staying with me at the hospital while I was recovering."

He looks at her now, obviously startled. Another explosion of fireworks plays shadows across his face. "You weren't supposed to know about that."

"Sokka has a big mouth." He groans, and she adds, "He doesn't hate you as much as he did before, if that helps."

"It doesn't." He's blushing; only the skin on his left cheek remains unchanged. "But you don't have to thank me. It wasn't a big deal."

"Of course it was. I was unconscious for _five days. _There must have been so much you were supposed be doing-"

"Uncle took care of it all. And besides, it wasn't like I could move much, either. It was either lay around in my room or lay around in yours." The blush deepens. "Uh, not that I-"

"No, I don't think Sokka would like you more now if you had." She moves her hand slightly; her pinky brushes his thumb. "You should find a Water Tribe healer to keep around here. Especially if people keep roasting each other in Agni Kai."

"That's a good idea." There's a moment of hesitation before he says, in one quick breath: "There's you - you're a healer."

"Not really." She can heal, but she's not a _healer_, and she never will be. She doesn't have the temperament. "You should send a message to Chief Arnook. I bet he'll know of someone. You need an ambassador anyway."

"_You_ would be a great ambassador," he says stubbornly.

She rolls her eyes. "I would freeze people in place when they make me angry."

"I wouldn't let you. It's not- it would be- Look, I understand how a government is supposed to work, but I don't know how to make people like me. But _you_ do. If you talk, everyone will listen. You could… help me." He can't meet her eyes, and she knows perfectly well how hard it is for him to say that. "And I would just block you whenever you try to ice someone."

"You're not fast enough."

"Yes, I am."

He is, but she's not going to admit it. Besides, she's fast enough to block him, too - and she suspects she's not the only one who would lose her temper with bureaucrats from time to time. He could stand to have the occasional fireball diffused. Or at least blow off frustration with a good dueling session.

"Stay." She can barely hear him over the crowds below. "I want you to stay."

"As ambassador?"

A beat. "No. I mean, yes, but… not just as that."

She feels her cheeks warm. "Wouldn't it be a problem?"

"I..." Now he's staring toward the horizon again, which she knows he can't see in the dark and wouldn't be looking at even if he could. "No, it wouldn't. I wouldn't let it be a problem. You could be ambassador - you could be whatever you want - and it wouldn't have to be anything else. I want you to stay anyway."

"I meant me being a waterbending peasant," she corrects. "That's probably not something you need right now. No one would like my being here."

He shakes his head and half-smiles. "You're a lot more popular in the Fire Nation than I am." She makes a small noise of disbelief, and he amends, "More respected, anyway. Everyone knows about how you defeated Azula."

"_You_ would have if she hadn't cheated," she protests.

"A village on an outer island swears you saved them from a witch-"

"Only sort of. It's complicated."

"-and there's a soldier who got court-marshaled last week for calling you a spy-"

"That's not fair, he was right!"

"-and even the people who call you a peasant think you're the most powerful waterbender in the world."

"Ooh. I bet Master Pakku doesn't like _that_."

"Believe me," he continues, ignoring her, "you'd be doing me more good than harm." He pauses. "In a lot of ways."

She watches the fires below for so long that spots dance in her vision when she closes her eyes. "Dad thinks I should come back to the Southern Water Tribe and help rebuild."

He wisely remains silent.

"Sokka and Toph and Suki... they're all going to go do their own things."

Still silent.

"And Aang thinks I'd be useful with Avatar stuff."

A hint of smoke rises from where he grips the railing.

"Not like that. You have _got_ to get over your jealousy issues."

"I'm not jealous." At her derisive snort, he mutters, "I wouldn't be, anyway, if you stayed."

She keeps her eyes closed, takes a slow, deep breath, and stretches her senses outward, as far as she can reach.

Ponds in the gardens. Pipes below the street. Oceans surrounding this island and every other island in the nation. As much water as she could ever ask for.

She's amazed sometimes that there aren't other waterbenders here; when the very first of her tribe built their very first canoes and made their very first voyages, why didn't they decide to stay when they found these distant shores? Was it the heat?

The turtle ducks squawk in alarm as she pulls up a little bubble of water from the pond below. With a gesture she creates a ball of ice and opens her eyes to watch it hover mid-air. Just to see how long she can keep it from melting.

Heat isn't so bad in blue silk.

"I want my necklace back," she blurts out.

He freezes for a long moment. But then he coughs, clears his throat - what was he expecting her to say? - and digs into his pocket.

Her carving is now attached to two red ribbons; they shine bright even in the darkness. "The leather ones burned off during the Agni Kai," he explains, tone low and embarrassed. "I just put these on so I wouldn't lose it. I'll find something else."

"No, don't," she says. "It's... nice. It looks right." His eyes widen, and she reaches back to lift her hair out of the way. When he doesn't move she raises an eyebrow. "Are you going to put it on?"

His hand brushes against her neck as he ties the carving in place.

"I'm not Northern Water Tribe," she reminds him. "So it's not actually an engagement necklace."

"No," he says.

"I'm not marrying age yet."

"No."

"I'm not promising anything anyway."

"No."

"Not then. Not later. Nothing for sure."

"No."

"We might kill each other first."

"Maybe."

"But I want to wear it."

"Okay."

"Because you gave it to me."

"Okay."

"And I'll stay."

"Good."

She lowers her hair, but his hands stay on her shoulders - a warm and heavy weight. The ice ball still hovers in front of her. Not a single drop has dripped free. She is a Waterbending Master. "I like it here."

He wraps his arms around her waist, pulls her closer. "We lived through tomorrow," he tells her. He's asking.

"There's a lot more tomorrows to live through," she tells him. She's answering.

And she leans back to kiss him.

_the end._

* * *

><p><em><em><strong>AN**: It took me six months to write the first 59k words, then a year and a half to write the last 13k. I really have no excuse for that, so, um... yeah. Sorry. I suck.__

_Thank you to everyone who stuck with this until the end; in fact, thank you to those who didn't. (Every reader is important!) And, once again, a super-duper thank you to Like A Dove, whose three Zuko-bits of this fic are invaluable. I owe her bacon._

_A number of people have asked about the Sparrowkeet chronology, which I understand; it's certainly jumpy. While I still believe that the most thematically and developmentally appropriate way to read is in the order published, for those who are inclined, here's the timeline:_

**Simultaneous (in recommended order)**:

_Sparrowkeet  
><em>_Strategies for Sister-Rescuing  
>The Teachings of Tea<br>__Ling  
><em>_The Princess_

**Consecutive**:

_A Man of the Sea  
><em>_Heartbeats  
><em>_I Don't Have a Clue  
><em>_Observations from a Rock Ledge  
><em>_A Rush of Blood to the Head  
><em>_The Fourth Wall  
><em>_Aang and the Avatar  
>Duels of Honor: Part 1<br>__Hot Leaf Juice  
><em>_Duels of Honor: Part 2  
><em>_The Final Chakra  
>Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part 1<br>__Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part 2  
><em>_Who I Am (or Who I Was): Part 3_

_Thanks again, guys._


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